News organizations last week reported that test scores dropped last year in the three Baltimore schools operated by Edison Schools in partnership with Maryland public-education officials.
The facts were essentially accurate ? but context absent.
Here is the missing information:
» Before last year, test scores steadily increased ? in some years, so dramatically that national education observers took note.
» Improvements generated on Edison?s watch have reversed years of stubborn decline and stagnation.
» Even with last year?s unfortunate decline, the three Baltimore schools still have made more net progress than comparable Maryland schools.
Does that mean last year?s drop in test scores is unimportant? Absolutely not.
At Edison Schools, accountability is in our DNA. If we deliver results for kids, we succeed. And if we don?t ? public schools will and should turn elsewhere.
No one has made that more clear than Maryland Schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick.
We are assessing why scores dropped, whether common patterns exist and what we must do to return the schools to the upward track that we have been on for six years.
When the state of Maryland assumed control of three of the worst-performing schools in the City of Baltimore in 1999, it selected Edison Schools, the nation?s largest private operator of public schools, to manage them.
The state told Edison to expect similar funding from previous years while requiring that student achievement improve.
We recruited and retained principals, teachers and staff. We purchased curriculum and added new technology systems.
Principals and teachers received unprecedented professional development.
We sought more engagement from parents.
It worked. Parents will tell you the schools? cultures have been completely transformed. Parent satisfaction, measured annually, is strong.
Our three schools went from an average ranking in overall achievement of 101st in 2000 ? the bottom of the list ? to 58th in 2005. Based on all of these results, the state of Maryland in 2005 renewed its contract with Edison for two years.
This success has not been an isolated event.
Up the road in Philadelphia, school district leadership was so impressed with Edison?s work in 20 schools, they added two more to our contract. Las Vegas just renewed its contract with us. And, this spring, the state of Hawaii increased the number of schools Edison serves.
Respected educational research groups have weighed in too. The federally funded American Institute of Research concluded that Edison was the only school-management organization with substantial research evidence to support its effectiveness.
And the Rand Corp. just completed a five-year, $1 million study showing that most Edison schools outperform peer schools over time.
But note those last words: over time.
The common thread in all these assessments is they occurred over multiple years.
Here?s the story we see: Edison has now worked with hundreds of acutely challenged schools in more than 50 cities in the United States and the United Kingdom to help them reach new heights.
If it took decades for these schools to fail, it is reasonable to assume that it takes years to recover.
The journey is often difficult. In any reform effort, it is rare to see an unbroken upward trajectory. But theoverall trend of Edison?s success ? in schools where there once was only hopelessness ? is clear and unmistakable.
It is fair to report our stumbles. But if we genuinely root for children to succeed, rather than for adults or companies to fail ? our setbacks must be put in context.
Chris Whittle, an entrepreneur with more than 25 years of leadership experience in the fields of education and publishing, founded Edison Schools in 1992. He was founder and chairman of Whittle Communications, one of America?s largest student publishers. From 1979 to 1986, Mr. Whittle was also chairman and publisher of Esquire magazine.
