Dive Brief:
- Mike Koprowski, chief of transformation and innovation in Dallas Independent School District, joins a group of 10 people younger than 35 who are transforming the education world with startups, ed tech funding, scholarship help and STEM diversification.
- Koprowski is one of just a few dozen innovation officers at the K-12 level, according to Business Innovation Factory data, but LinkedIn reports about 531 of its members claim similar titles across the entire field of education — still less than .01% of the field.
- Koprowski is the only Next Wave designee who hails from the K-12 school system, and his job since 2014 has been opening “choice schools,” which offer magnet-like programs without requiring entrance exams, and achieving greater socioeconomic diversity across the district’s schools.
Dive Insight:
Most of the Next Wave honorees this year focus their energies on expanding access in higher education, whether it is by offering nontraditional course or degree options, greater access to scholarships or innovative financing. The one other person who focuses specifically on the K-12 space is Jeremy Keeshin, CEO and co-founder of CodeHS, which aims to provide every high schooler access to coding instruction before graduation through web-based curricula.
Last year, three of the Next Wave recipients were focused on improving the K-12 system. Max Ventilla, the CEO and founder of AltSchool, has been using technology to personalize elementary education; Dallas Dance has drawn attention as a young, tech-focused big-city leader at the head of the Baltimore County schools; and Sam Chaudhary has given teachers a new way to address discipline with ClassDojo.
