NewSchools Feasibility Study

The Challenge

The NewSchools Venture Fund™ is a non-profit e-learning solution organization that invests in K-12 charter school programs. To alleviate administrative burdens on its portfolio schools, NewSchools was interested in providing a Web-based back office support system for all its charters.

The Solution

To determine whether such a system would be practical and possible, Silicon Space worked with NewSchools to define their vision and examine the issues that they had already encountered. Silicon Space completed a feasibility study of the proposal, which entailed interviewing school administrators, business managers, and non-profit organizers to determine the market need and acceptance of the proposed solution. A technical analysis and architecture was also developed. Upon completion of the study, Silicon Space presented NewSchools with recommendations on how to proceed. The study ultimately revealed that a Web-based back office system would not be feasible. Aside from being too expensive, the charter schools lacked infrastructure and technical expertise to utilize the system. Silicon Space recommended simpler, cheaper alternatives that would accomplish some duties of the initial proposed system and provided cost-saving from outsourcing.

The Result

Silicon Space helped prevent New Schools from pursuing an expensive, unfruitful course of action. In addition, NewSchools gained insights into the challenges, complexities, and opportunities involved in implementing advanced technology in early-stage educational settings.