Why This Tech Executive Says Her Plan to Disrupt Education Is Different<br />" he said. that It’s important that parents don’t work on the false assumption<br />that sending students to a school that claims to do things radically different means that the students won’t be doing anything like students in other schools — because that’s just not the case,<br />Instead, there are "creator spaces," "blue-sky thinking" sessions<br />and "pitch decks." If the school — furnished like a start-up with whiteboards and beanbag chairs — sounds like the idea of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, that’s because it is.<br />Ms. Fenton won Australian Teacher of the Year in 2013<br />and has written exams for the Victorian Certificate of Education — the final assessment required of students in the state of Victoria.<br />About a third of Australian children attend private schools — nearly three times the rate of American children<br />— meaning there are fewer national sensitivities around unions, corporate influence and tuition.<br />AltSchool, founded by the former Google executive Max Ventilla, announced last year<br />that it would close several of its schools after a series of reported losses, despite raising $175 million from investors like Mark Zuckerberg, and charging tuition fees of around $28,000.<br />"They lived in chaos for like a day or two, but then, a few days later, they stuck together<br />and just all decided to rebuild again." The school’s website promises to remove the "stress and anxiety" students encounter at other schools.
