Another way to involve children in the economy is to build a community around their work, and that begins before school starts -- through partnerships that LearnNow creates with community groups. In North Philadelphia, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) joined with LearnNow to run the Mariana Bracetti Academy. LULAC's involvement means that teachers don't bear the whole burden of persuading parents and businesses to support the school. In fact, the community is inclined to consider the school a community center where adults can learn computer skills as well.

A Different Education

But LearnNow isn't averse to doing the hard work of making change in schools and communities. In the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota, LearnNow staff members knocked on the doors of the homes where Hmong refugees lived. They explained that the charter school would be staffed by Hmong educators who could better understand the needs of Hmong children. That outreach made the difference for Jue Blong Thao. A refugee from Laos and a father of seven, Thao used to think of public school as yet another place where his children struggled and where he felt as if he didn't belong. Now he is busy learning computer skills alongside his two children, who attend the Hope Community Academy.

The Hope school focuses as much on literacy and on math-shortcomings in the Hmong community -- as it does on the traditions of Hmong culture. Thao, a local radio personality in the Hmong community, encourages his friends and listeners to send their children to the academy and to support their children's work. "The Hmong teachers have an incentive to perform," he explains, "because they're from our community."

Michele Pierce is principal of the Harriet Tubman charter school that will open next fall in the Bronx. She and the members of her board chose LearnNow after their relationship with another management company had broken down over differences in how children should be taught. They were won over when Wade approached them and explained his teaching philosophy. "The standards are constant," he says. "Nobody graduates from third grade without knowing how to read or how to do long division. What varies is the time that students need to spend with teachers."

And like any good business, LearnNow pays for performance. Teachers earn bonuses that are based on how well their students do. And teachers are required to follow the progress of their students for at least two years in order to ensure that those students are building upon their skills.

Ultimately, LearnNow hopes to make money by scaling innovation and by spreading good ideas across the system, much like a venture capitalist cross-pollinates ideas. The best ideas of a teacher in one school can spread through online lesson plans and through teaching techniques. That practice encourages teachers to create their own methods of success as well.

For some of Wade's supporters, the jury is still out on whether the benchmark for change is the school or the system. For Wade, the answer is as clear as it's ever been.

"I don't want to run the whole school system, nor do I want to run the most schools in the system," he says. "But if the public schools don't change because we exist, then we've failed."

Rekha Balu (rbalu@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company senior writer. Contact Gene Wade by email (ewade@lnschools.com), or learn more about LearnNow on the Web (www.lnschools.com).

Sidebar: What's Fast

Gene Wade, chairman and chief executive officer of LearnNow, wants to change the way that poor kids learn and the way that schools drive community economic development -- by embracing a set of common-sense principles for how schools should work.

Incite change without mounting a hostile takeover. "We don't want to reject the public schools or any other existing institution. The key is to work with them. In business, change happens just outside the system. But policy changes and social changes happen faster the closer you move toward the system."

Build communities that learn. "Schools, like any institution, don't exist in isolation. But that's how we treat them. Once you connect institutions, change starts. We integrate the learning of children with that of adults, and the school with the after-school."

Anyone can achieve. "We have to be reflective and conscious of our biases about who can learn. Until we believe that everyone can learn, we won't build organizations of excellence."

Build to scale. "We plan to create geographic clusters of schools that can share ideas and resources. Why? One-of-a-kind institutions are great, but scalable models are better. Rather than wait for the network effect, be a catalyst and supporter of it."