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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 2001

News Release

NEA-Funded Edison School Studies Released Today

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Learning in Edison schools does not occur any faster than in public schools, though some students benefit from the Edison school model, according to two reports released today. Both were funded by the National Education Association.

Edison Schools, Inc., is a for-profit, education management organization (EMO) that runs 113 schools serving 57,000 students in 21 states and the District of Columbia. About half of Edison schools operate through a contract with a local school district, and the rest are charter schools.

The two studies, which differ markedly in their findings, show there are many questions that need to be further studied about Edison and other EMOs said NEA President Bob Chase.

"NEA commissioned these studies to provide our members and the public with objective information about Edison schools," Chase said, pointing out that Edison is the only EMO that has actively pursued working with unions. "We will be passing on the findings of both studies to our affiliates, and we encourage them to use the data when negotiating with Edison schools. We will also continue our research to further evaluate Edison and other EMOs."

One study was conducted by The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University. Gary Miron, Ph.D., the lead researcher, looked at the standardized test scores of students in 10 Edison schools that opened in 1995 or 1996 - making them Edison's longest operating schools.

Miron compared the test scores of Edison students to those of public school students in similar schools. His findings show Edison students' achievement closely tracks similar students in regular public schools. In three Edison schools, students did worse than similar public schools; in four Edison schools, students kept pace with the gains of comparable public school students; and in three Edison schools, students did better than those in similar public schools.

The other NEA-commissioned Edison study was led by Peter Cookson, Ph.D. of Columbia University's Teachers College during the spring and fall of 1999. This is a qualitative study of the conditions of teaching and learning in five Edison schools and the extent to which the schools were implementing the Edison school design. Cookson did not compare Edison schools with similar public schools as the WMU study did. Instead, Cookson's study was based on visits to 60 Edison classrooms and interviews with Edison teachers, principals and parents.

Cookson reports Edison schools are well thought-out and functional schools with a cohesive curriculum and positive learning environment. The schools studied were implementing the Edison design, although the extent of implementation was uneven.

"The Edison schools are not educational utopias," states the report, but the Edison design does provide a blueprint for the creation of academically rigorous learning environments. This study also concluded that teachers were generally positive about teaching in an Edison school, although a number reported a high level of stress due to the multitude of demands on their time and energies.

The WMU study is available online at : http://www.nea.org/issues/corpmngt/wmurpt.pdf , the Cookson study is available at: http://www.nea.org/issues/corpmngt/cookrpt.html.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.