more on Edison

[kber <kber@EARTHLINK.NET>]

from today's NY Times, for those who haven't seen it.

Ken Bernstein



February 17, 2002

                   Buying in to the Company School

                   By JACQUES STEINBERG

                        LINT, Mich., Feb. 13 ? An elementary school
                        on a block of boarded-up houses here offers a
                        glimpse of how Edison Schools Inc. would
                   remake many of America's classrooms. Its experience
is
                   perhaps of most immediate interest to parents and
                   teachers in Philadelphia, which is expected soon to
                   surrender dozens of its worst schools as part of the
                   nation's largest experiment in educational
privatization.

                   Based on a typical day at the Garfield Edison
                   Partnership School here, Philadelphians can expect 90

                   minutes of reading lessons each morning, during which

                   teachers follow a common script; swift disciplinary
                   hearings for students who so much as talk out of turn
in
                   class; standardized tests administered by computer
every
                   few weeks, with answers transmitted instantly to
Edison
                   headquarters in New York; and, eventually, a
                   complimentary computer in the home of every child.

                   Parents should also get accustomed to their children
                   receiving law-enforcement-style tickets ? but for
good
                   conduct ? which are the currency for admission to
                   school activities like the honors choir and Friday
night
                   dances.

                   Still, no one in Philadelphia, where an emergency
                   school board installed by the state is expected to
hire
                   Edison as a consultant as soon as next month, should
                   anticipate a quick fix. After spiking upward in
Edison's
                   first year, standardized test scores at Garfield ?
whose
                   students, like those in Philadelphia, are mostly poor
and
                   black ? are now lower than before the company
                   arrived, in 1996. Too, after performing better in
reading
                   and math than the district as a whole before Edison,
                   Garfield now performs worse. Just 24 percent of the
                   school's fourth graders passed a state reading test
last
                   year. Almost 45 percent of the district's passed.

                   "Certainly the schools we gave to Edison were schools

                   that were challenging to us," said Linda Caine-
Smith,
                   the deputy superintendent in Flint, which has
entrusted
                   two schools in addition to Garfield to the company.
"But under Edison they haven't always made
                   the adequate yearly progress they should have."

                   The performance of Edison, in the classroom and on
Wall Street, is being monitored closely
                   around the country, as more communities consider
hiring the company. The company now
                   manages 134 public schools in 22 states. It suffered
its most bitter defeat last year, when it lost a
                   vote by parents to manage five schools in New York
City.

                   Despite their disappointment with the test scores,
Flint school officials are negotiating a three-year
                   extension of the company's five-year contract. Other
communities have been less forgiving. Last
                   month, the school board in Wichita, Kan., voted to
take back two elementary schools that it had
                   given to Edison five years earlier. These included a
school at which the principal was recently
                   dismissed on suspicion of encouraging cheating on
standardized tests.

                   Several hundred parents, teachers and students in
Philadelphia have seized on such concerns ?
                   as well as Edison's practice of trying to negotiate a
school day as much as 90 minutes longer than
                   the norm ? to try to block Edison's arrival. But the
Pennsylvania governor, Mark S. Schweiker,
                   has expressed confidence that Edison can improve a
troubled school system, and Edison is said to
                   have the inside track to win two major contracts to
help manage the overall system and to operate
                   most of the 100 schools the board wants to transfer
to private management.

                   As soon as next fall, those schools could have many
of the trappings of Garfield, which Flint
                   children have attended since 1928, long before
General Motors began closing the assembly lines
                   that once ran like a roaring river here.

                   The few teachers who remain from Garfield's earlier
incarnation ? most of the staff transferred
                   after the school day was lengthened ? say that the
deportment of the 500 students, an Edison
                   priority, has been the most noticeable change. Fourth
and fifth graders who once cruised the wide
                   hallways as if they were freeways now walk in long
slow lines, arms folded, "so we know their
                   hands are on their person," says Georgette Parks, who
was hired as principal last school year,
                   after having led an Edison school in Detroit.

                   Inside the classroom, during the 90 minutes devoted
to reading each morning, the teachers follow
                   a curriculum called Success for All, which provides
daily lesson plans that are scripted down to
                   the questions that the teachers are to ask students
about particular stories. Each class visits
                   school's media center once a month to log on to
Edison's Web site and take exams in reading and
                   math.

                   Academic analysts at the company's headquarters ? the
teachers repeatedly refer to "New York"
                   as if it were the home office and they were salesmen
? then crunch the numbers to provide the
                   school with guidance on which students, and teachers,
are falling behind.

                   Though they start the day earlier than friends in
other schools and stay later, Garfield students say
                   they enjoy the rigor and the close attention.

                   "It was bad at my old school," said Ashley Callahan,
11, who transferred to Garfield this year on
                   the recommendation of family friends. "My old school
had fights. The teachers wouldn't do
                   anything."

                   Ashley said she enjoyed the Spanish classes that are
required of every Edison student and the
                   programming of the school's closed-circuit television
station, a fixture of every Edison school.
                   The programming is produced entirely by students.

                   Like teachers at other Edison schools, Garfield
teachers are encouraged to solve their most
                   intractable problems as a team. Thus, one morning
this week, Barbara Heller took one of her
                   fourth graders before a committee of five of her
colleagues to seek their guidance, in the boy's
                   presence, on how to stop him from talking constantly
in class.

                   "He's either unwilling or unable to do what he needs
to do," Ms. Heller said, as the boy
                   convulsed in tears. "Frankly, I don't know what to
do."

                   After interviewing the boy, the teachers decided that
he was lonely, and they promised to ask his
                   mother if he could stay after school to participate
in activities like the chess club or chorus.

                   So far, Edison has spent tens of millions at its
schools on extras like closed-circuit television, as
                   well as on the computers it lends to parents, much to
the chagrin of Wall Street, which has grown
                   bearish on a stock that has lost two-thirds of its
value in a year. [Edison stock closed at $12.46 a
                   share on Friday.]

                   Ultimately, Ms. Parks, the Garfield principal, knows
she will be judged as much by test scores as
                   by her fiscal management. Though the number of
students passing reading tests at her school
                   doubled to 24 percent, from 12, last year, her first
at Garfield, she knows that they are far from
                   good enough ? for the district, the state or "New
York."

                   "There's always a certain amount of pressure," she
said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the ARN-L list, send command SIGNOFF ARN-L
to LISTSERV@LISTS.CUA.EDU.