Report puts Edison’s expansion in doubt

By Emily Richmond

Wednesday, June 11, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.

Clark County School District officials are expected to recommend Thursday the School Board put off any plans to expand its contract with Edison Schools Inc.

Basing his view on test results from last fall, Deputy Superintendent Agustin Orci said so far the private school management company's performance has been indistinguishable from what similar campuses have done.

"We are really going to be waiting for positive results in the fall," Orci said. "If we don't see those, that's the appropriate time to initiate conversations about Edison's future in Clark County."

In exchange for the five-year contract with the district, Edison promised higher student test scores as well as $1.4 million in philanthropic funds for each of the seven campuses. The contract left open the possibility of Edison expanding to 10 additional campuses by 2005, provided the company show significant gains in student achievement.

When student scores from the 2002 Iowa Basic Skills test for the seven Edison schools were compared with other campuses with similar socioeconomic profiles the overall results were nearly identical, said Kathy Foster, associate superintendent of curriculum for the school district. Results were also similar for specific groups, including students for whom English is not their first language, Foster said.

"A one or two point difference between schools is not what we consider statistically significant," Foster said.

Edison must show "significant gains" on next October's exam, said Orci, the district's deputy superintendent of instruction.

Orci's report to the board is part of an annual evaluation of the New York-based company, hired in 2001 to manage seven of the district's most struggling schools in some of its poorest neighborhoods.

While Edison receives the same per-pupil funding as the rest of the district's schools, the company promises additional resources for students through its corporate partnerships. Edison faltered last year in meeting its schedule of philanthropic payments to the district but as of this month is on time, Orci said.

When Nevada schools switched from the TerraNova to the Iowa test last fall, the results became the new baseline for performance, Orci said.

In addition to the change in tests, it was also the first time school districts nationwide were required to include special education students and English Language Learner students in its overall results as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Adam Tucker, spokesman for Edison Schools, said this morning Orci's recommendations did not come as a surprise.

"We've always said expanding in Clark County was something we would definitely be interested in if it made sense for the district and for us," Tucker said. "We're still early into this partnership, and we only have the baseline data to work with."

Edison, which manages more than 100 schools nationwide, survived a rough year, seeing its stock price plummet in the wake of a Securities and Exchange Commission rebuke of its accounting practices. The company has also lost contracts in at least seven states.

The company takes what critics call a "cookie cutter" approach to education. Curriculum, class schedules and instructional methods are strictly regimented, which each of the company's schools following identical blueprints.

Edison officials say its that type of consistency that leads to solid learning. But a March report by the Nevada Department of Education found the rigidity of the Edison model was hurting -- not helping -- at Lynch Elementary School in Clark County.

Caroline Grannan, a public school advocate and founder of a nationwide Edison watchdog group based in San Francisco, said the company has never shown a consistent pattern of improvement at any of the campuses they have operated.

"With new schools there's always some excuse, they haven't had enough time or the type of tests being used has changed," Grannan said. "Over the long run it becomes clear the company isn't haven't any impact. That's why it's Edison's oldest contracts that have been dropped. Those are the schools that caught on first."

State education officials launched the review of Lynch because it was the northeast Las Vegas school's third straight year on the state's "needs improvement" list. District-wide 30 schools made the list, including six out of the seven campuses managed by Edison.

Edison has had its opponents in the district from the start, including the teachers' union and Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-North Las Vegas. During the past legislative session Williams pushed unsuccessfully for a bill that would have set new limits on partnerships between school districts and private contractors.

It was Williams' lawsuit -- filed along with the state teachers' union and the county education support employees' union -- that resulted in the annual review of Edison's performance. As part of the settlement of the lawsuit, the school district agreed to set up an evaluation committee with representatives from both unions taking part.

John Jasonek, executive director of the Clark County Education Association, said he believes the district will eventually begin phasing Edison out of the district, perhaps starting with Lynch Elementary, which has shown the lowest performance and the highest rate of teacher turnover.

"Bringing (Edison) in was something the district wanted to try, and you can't condemn them for that, but I think it's becoming obvious that Edison isn't producing any more than we can do locally," said Jasonek, whose union represents the majority of Clark County's teachers. "Two years into the contract we should be seeing results at some level, but we're not."

While the district waits for the next round of Edison's test scores, there are other things to be learned, Orci said.

"By (Edison's) count they've spent $40 million on research and development," Orci said. "There may well be some instructional techniques or methods we'll end up applying at other, non-Edison schools."

Doug Wilson, who left his post as principal of Ronnow Edison Elementary School this spring to open a new campus in downtown Las Vegas, said he will be incorporating some Edison elements into his school-wide plan. Edison's system of dividing schools into smaller "houses" was effective and made it easier to track both teacher and student performance, Wilson said. The company's strong emphasis on intensive reading programs is also something Wilson hopes to emulate.

As for whether Edison has succeeded or failed in Clark County, Wilson urged patience.

"One of the problems with public education is that we all want instant success," Wilson said Tuesday. "The reality is it takes time."