An Evaluation of Student Achievement in
Edison Schools Opened in 1995 and 1996

Gary Miron and Brooks Applegate
December 2000

The Evaluation Center
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI 49008
tel.  616 387-5895
fax.  616 387-5923
e-mail: gary.miron@wmich.edu
http://www.wmich.edu/evalctr


Executive Summary and Table of Contents (PDF file - 259 KB)    40 pages
Executive Summary in HTML (99 KB)    27 pages
Entire Edison Evaluation Report (PDF file - 2.7 MB)    339 pages
       Contains executive summary and chapters 1-13, references, and appendices 

Western Michigan University Press Release, February 22, 2001

Rebuttal to Edison Comments (PDF file - 24 KB)    3 pages



PDF files for each chapter or component of the report

The publications are in Adobe Acrobat PDF version 4. To view them,
you will need to download and install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.



Table of Contents and Lists of Tables and Exhibits

Chapter 1   Introduction and Background to the Study
 1.1  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1

 1.2  Description of Edison Schools Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
 1.3  Description of Edison’s Evaluation and Assessment Activities . . . . .  8

 1.4  Overview of the Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9

Chapter 2   Methodology and Related Issues
 2.1  Aims and Objective of the Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

 2.2  Sources of Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

 2.3  To Compare or Not to Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

 2.4  Statistical Methods Utilized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

 2.5  Criteria for Evaluating Trends and Summarizing Results for Each Case . 22

 2.6  Limitations of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Chapter 3   Roosevelt-Edison Charter School, Colorado Springs, CO 
 3.1  Descriptive Summary of School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

 3.2  Past Studies and Evaluations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

 3.3  Longitudinal Analysis of Individual Student Data . . . . . . . . . . . 31

 3.4  Chi-Square Analysis of CSAP Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

 3.5  Odds Ratio Analysis of the CSAP Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

 3.6  Summary  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chapter 4   Henry E. S. Reeves Elementary, Miami-Dade County, FL
 4.1  Descriptive Summary of School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

 4.2  Past Studies and Evaluations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

 4.3  Summary of Findings by the Miami-Dade County Public School District  . 49

 4.4  Longitudinal Student Outcomes:  The Shay Study . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

 4.5  Performance on the FCAT and Florida Writes State Assessments . . . . . 53

 4.6  Chi-Square Analysis of FCAT Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

 4.7  Odds Ratio Analysis of the FCAT Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

 4.8  Summary  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Chapter 5   Dodge-Edison Elementary, Wichita, KS
 5.1  Descriptive Summary of School  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

 5.2  Past Studies and Evaluations and Data Available for Analysis . . . . . 64

 5.3  Longitudinal Analysis of Individual Student Data . . . . . . . . . . . 66

 5.4  Comparison with District on the MAT-7  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

 5.5  Comparison with District and State on Kansas Assessments . . . . . . . 73

 5.6  Summary  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Chapter 6   Jardine-Edison Junior Academy, Wichita, KS
 6.1  Descriptive Summary of School  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

 6.2  Past Studies and Evaluations and Data Available for Analysis . . . . . 80

 6.3  Comparison with District on the MAT-7  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

 6.4  Comparison with District and State on Kansas Assessments . . . . . . . 84

 6.5  Summary  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Chapter 7   Boston Renaissance Charter School, Boston, MA
 7.1  Descriptive Summary of School  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

 7.2  Past Studies and Evaluations and Data Available for Analysis . . . . . 91

 7.3  Longitudinal Analysis of Individual Student Data . . . . . . . . . . . 94

 7.4  Chi-Square Analysis of MCAS Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  105

 7.5  Odds Ratio Analysis of the MCAS Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  107

 7.6  Summary  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  118

Chapter 8   Seven Hills Charter School, Worcester, MA
 8.1  Descriptive Summary of School  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  121

 8.2  Past Studies and Evaluations and Data Available for Analysis . . . .  122

 8.3  Longitudinal Analysis of Individual Student Data   . . . . . . . . .  123

 8.4  Chi-Square Analysis of MCAS Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  129

 8.5  Odds Ratio Analysis of the MCAS Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  132

 8.6  Summary  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  143

Chapter 9   Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy, Mount Clemens, MI
 9.1  Descriptive Summary of School  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  147

 9.2  Past Studies and Evaluation and Data Available for Analysis  . . . .  148

 9.3  Longitudinal Analysis of Individual Student Data   . . . . . . . . .  149

 9.4  Chi-Square Analysis of MEAP Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  153

 9.5  Odds Ratio Analysis of the MEAP Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  156

 9.6  Overall Performance on the MEAP Assessments  . . . . . . . . . . . .  161

 9.7  Summary  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  167

Chapter 10   Mt. Clemens Secondary Academies, Mt. Clemens, MI 
 10.1  Descriptive Summary of School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  170

 10.2  Data Available for Our Analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  172

 10.3  Chi-Square Analysis of MEAP Data  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  173

 10.4  Odds Ratio Analysis of the MEAP Data  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  175

 10.5  Overall Performance on the MEAP Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . .  179

 10.6  Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  186

Chapter 11   Mid-Michigan Public School Academy, Lansing, MI
 11.1  Descriptive Summary of School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  188

 11.2  Past Studies and Evaluations and Currently Available Data . . . . .  189

 11.3  Longitudinal Analysis of Individual Student Data  . . . . . . . . .  190

 11.4  Chi-Square Analysis of MEAP Data  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  194

 11.5  Odds Ratio Analysis of the MEAP Data  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  197

 11.6  Overall Performance on the MEAP Assessments . . . . . . . . . . . .  204

 11.7  Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  214

Chapter 12   Washington Elementary School, Sherman, TX
 12.1  Descriptive Summary of School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  216

 12.2  Past Studies and Evaluations and Available Test Data  . . . . . . .  220

 12.3  Analysis of Texas Assessment of Academic Skills Results . . . . . .  221

 12.4  Comparable Growth on the TAAS Based on Consecutive Class Cohorts  .  227
 12.5  Comparable Improvement Results Based on Individual Students’ Gains 

       on the Texas Learning Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  231

 12.6  Chi-Square Analysis of TAAS Data  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  234

 12.7  Odds Ratio Analysis of the TAAS Data  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  235

 12.8  Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  243

Chapter 13   Summary of the Findings
 13.1  Edison’s Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  246

 13.2  Evaluation Center Findings  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  247

 13.3  Comparison Between Edison’s Findings and The Evaluation

       Center’s Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  253

 13.4  Recommendations Based on the Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  255


References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  257

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  261