Research Group Rates Effectiveness of Educational Management Organizations

Washington

Of the most popular organizations and companies that are hired to run troubled public schools, only one has accumulated a solid body of evidence to show that it does improve student achievement, concludes a consumer-style guide released this week by a Washington-based research group.

Researchers at the American Institutes for Research screened 940 studies on seven different educational management organizations to look for proof of whether the programs produce gains in student achievement. Only nine studies met the group's strict definition for scientific quality and all of them focused on Edison Schools, a New York City-based for-profit company that operates 157 schools around the country.

But even that evidence was not enough to warrant Edison an effectiveness rating any stronger than "moderate" by the research group's standards. No providers earned AIR's top two ratings: "moderately...