Introduction: New Perspectives on Social and Educational Entrepreneurship

Abstract

This publication is both an edited volume and a special issue that is the product of a highly selective refereeing process. The rationale for the International Journal of Entrepreneurship Education (IJEE) Special Issue on Social (and Educational) Entrepreneurship, sponsored by the UCLA Institute for the Study of Educational Entrepreneurship (ISEE) and the Kauffman Foundation, originally emerged from a growing recognition that the worlds of social entrepreneurship and education are increasingly cross-pollinating. There are numerous examples and models, as will be explored in this set of articles, of how entrepreneurship is being used or can be used to enhance and support education at the pre-college level. This kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) education in the United States traditionally has been thought to be a public sector issue because the funding comes largely from government sources. Although there are private schools and initiatives in the United States, the vast majority of students are educated in public schools, and most of the funding for education comes from local, state, and federal government.

Government influence and control over education is no longer as dominant as it used to be. There are social innovations and powerful ideas coming from both the private for profit sector and the not-for-profit sector that are challenging existing ways of structuring and providing education for students.