Edison Schools are a type of American public school which is run for profit.
The company started in 1992, and its methods and processes were mentioned prominently in Alyssa Quart's Branded (2003), when some students started a demonstration against an Edison School being built in their area, due to the commercial progopation.
Edison Schools work on the principle of being partners with the school district concerned. They are divided into three sub-companies: District Partners, Charter and Alliance. Also Edison runs after-school programmes under the Newton brand and extended school year programmes under the Tungsten brand.
Edison has also made some headway in Britain with Edison Schools UK. Colbayns High School in Essex was the first Edison School in that country, and received praise from OFSTED for its progress in the previous nine months.
Edison Schools keep in mind ten fundamentals and various core values. The fundamentals include a better use of time (which means a longer school day and a longer school year - 198 days as opposed to 180 in the standard American school) and assessments that provide accountability (including benchmark assessments and a structured portfolio and a quarterly learning contract).
EdisonSchools was widely hailed at the beginning of the 21st century as the leader in what "school reformers" saw as the promising new privatization trend.
Colbayns High School in Essex was the first EdisonSchool in that country, and received praise from OFSTED for its progress in the previous nine months.
Edison's methods and processes were mentioned prominently in Alyssa Quart's Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers (2003), when some students started a demonstration against an EdisonSchool being built in their area, due to the commercial takeover of their public schools.
Edison’s accountability systems are distinguished from those of conventional public schools primarily by their greater focus on outcomes-based accountability — measured mostly by student achievement and school budget management — and reduced emphasis on bureaucratic and political accountability.
Edison’s ability to insulate its schools from local politics appears to be greater in its charter schools than in its district schools, as suggested by the longer endurance of its management contracts with charter schools.
Schools that opened in 2000 or later showed slightly larger relative gains in mathematics than those that opened earlier, but no difference in relative gains between newer and older Edisonschools was observed for reading.
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