ELRT
2009 News
For-Profit Public School Management continues to plateau new report identifies many more small firms managing public schools. BOULDER, Colo., and TEMPE, Ariz., September 8, 2009 -- New research confirms that the number of schools managed by for-profit companies remains relatively flat.
The finding, confirming a multi-year trend, is one of several offered with the 2008-09 edition of Profiles of For-Profit Education Management Organizations, published by the Commercialism in Education and the Education Policy Research Units at Arizona State University and released in collaboration with the Education and the Public Interest Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Western Michigan University’s College of Education.
The 2008-09 Profiles were compiled by a team led by Arizona State University professor Alex Molnar and Western Michigan University professor Gary Miron. Jessica Urschel, a graduate student at Western Michigan University, is the third author of the report.
Education Management Organizations (EMOs) are private firms that manage charter schools or conventional public schools under contracts, either with charter holders or with public school districts. The EMO industry emerged in the 1990s as part of an effort to utilize market forces to reform public education.
Molnar and colleagues have published the annual Profiles reports since 1999 to track the industry’s growth.
Intended for a broad audience that includes policymakers, educators, school district officials, and school board members as well as investors, EMO employees or education industry participants, the Profiles report provides a one of a kind comprehensive overview of the for-profit education management industry.
The 2008-09 report lists 95 for-profit EMO’s in 31 states enrolling a total of 339,222 students.
Among other findings:
- Many large and medium-sized EMOs are expanding into new service areas, such as supplemental education services.
- Imagine Schools, Inc., has the largest number of schools (76) under management.
- EdisonLearning (formerly Edison Schools) experienced a decrease in the number of fully managed schools for the second year in a row, with 62 public schools under management in 2008-2009 down from 80 in 2007-08. However, it still enrolls the largest number of students (37,574) of any for-profit EMO. K12 Inc., which operates 24 “virtual” schools whose students attend from home via an Internet-based curriculum and distance-learning, enrolls almost as many students, 37,543.
- Of the 733 schools profiled, 74% are operated by large EMOs.
- 57% of EMO-managed schools are primary schools.
- Large EMOs account for 78.5% of all students enrolled in EMO-managed schools
- Schools managed by large EMOs tend to have larger school enrollments than medium-sized or small EMOs.
- For-profit virtual schools total 56, or 7.6% of all schools managed by EMOs.
- The five states with the most schools managed by for-profit EMOs are Michigan (191), Florida (136), Arizona (103), Ohio (95), and Pennsylvania (39).
The Department of Education Leadership, Research and Technology participated in the second annual WMU Day at the Capitol which featured dozens of WMU programs and projects.
EDLD PH.D. Applicants: The EDLD faculty have voted to move to once a year admissions into the EDLD doctoral program. The admissions process and deadlines will be for spring only with students beginning the following Fall (or summer if requested). For more information, contact the department at (269) 387-2893. The next admissions cycle will take place in Spring 2010 for students starting the program in Fall 2010.
Congratulations to Leonard Savala, a doctoral student in Educational Leadership. Leonard will receive the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) 2009 Graduate Student Conference Fellowship Award to attend the AAHHE National Conference : "Soluciones para el Futuro-Achieving Hispanic Success" in San Antonio on March 5-7. Leonard was selected based on his career goals and past experiences as a Latino in higher education. Leonard is a first generation college student from Grand Rapids, MI. Leonard was also recently reappointed to the Michigan Commission on Spanish Speaking Affairs to which he was appointed by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. Leonard's advisor is Dr. Andrea Beach.
Nonprofit's a Growing Segment of the Education Management Organization Industry - Dr. Gary Miron, professor, and Jessica Urschel, graduate student in organizational psychology prepared "Profiles of Nonprofit Education management Organizations: 2007-2008, profiling 83 organizations operating public charter schools." More...
Researchers in the College of Education and Human Development have shown positive effects of the Kalamazoo Promise. Dr. Gary Miron, professor, found that enrollment in Kalamazoo Public Schools has increased by 12.1 percent due to the Kalamazoo Promise. Dr. Jeffrey Jones and Dr. Allison Kelaher Young, professors in Teaching, Learning, and Educational Studies, and Dr. Miron found that teacher expectations for student success have also increased.
The College of Education and Human Development and the College of Arts and Sciences are presenting a special Spring 2009 Seminar. The "Knowledge, Power and Social Justice: Educating children placed-at-risk" seminar will take place Tuesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. in 3208 Sangren Hall.