Bill Gates Foundations Eyes Atlanta For Headquarters

[tikigod311]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

The irony. LOL.

This would be a great addition to Atlanta. Even if their previous solutions were not successful, I would bet that they will continue to innovate. I don't see the private sector utilizing the classic government strategy of "Keep throwing more money at it, that'll fix it!"

The good news just keeps pouring in for the A.

[Atlwarrior]

THEY CHOOSE ATLANTA. YAY!



A technology-based nonprofit backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has chosen Atlanta as its headquarters, putting the city on the national stage in the effort to transform American education.
InBloom Inc. will provide technology services as schools race to meet new academic requirements.
The nonprofit focuses on the challenge American educators face as they are inundated with data and technology in multiple formats, creating a disjointed system.
The situation makes it hard for teachers to tailor instruction and curriculum to meet the needs of individual students.
Atlanta Business Chronicle reported Feb. 1 that the Gates-Foundation-backed nonprofit was eyeing Atlanta and that its decision to locate its headquarters here could make the city a center for a cohesive effort to accelerate student achievement in U.S. schools.
“Education technology and data need to work better together to fulfill their potential for students and teachers,” Iwan Streichenberger, CEO of inBloom Inc, said in a news release. “Until now, tackling this problem has often been too expensive for states and districts, but inBloom is easing that burden and ushering in a new era of personalized learning.”
Twenty-one education technology companies have already announced plans to develop applications that will work with inBloom.
Many of these applications will be demonstrated at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, this March.
Nine states, representing more than 11 million students, are participating in the development and pilot testing of the inBloom technology services to ensure they meet the needs of states, districts, teachers and students.

[MathmanMathman]

Well, if it is located in the Atlanta city, GSU's College of Education should seek out a working relationship with them.

But just as throwing money at the problem doesn't work, neither will throwing technology.

[tonygeorgia]

How many jobs will this bring?

Will he buy a house in the metro area?

[MathmanMathman]

^ I doubt Gates will be in Atlanta often enough to warrant buying a house.

Saw this in Wikipedia

The public school reform program of the Gates Foundation has come under criticism by education professionals, parents, and researchers for promoting reforms that they see as undermining public education. The reforms include closing neighborhood schools in favor of privately run charter schools; using standardized test scores extensively to evaluate students, teachers, and schools; and merit pay for teachers based on test scores. Critics also believe that the Gates Foundation exerts too much influence over public education policy without being accountable to voters or tax payers.

Sounds like he won't be making many friends in the teaching community. Gates might just have to form is own nationwide chain of private schools as he could never run public schools the way he'd want to.