What is Edison Schools? What is a charter school? What is the Edison design? What is the curriculum used in Edison schools? How are Edison schools organized? What are the Edison school hours? When does the school year start and end? What is the satisfaction rating of Edison schools among parents, teachers,      and students? How does Edison serve students with special needs? Do all students have access to a computer? How do Edison schools address discipline problems? What is the cost of tuition? Does Edison have a uniform policy? How do I enroll my child in an Edison school? Are Edison teachers certified? What is the average salary of an Edison teacher and what benefits do you      offer? What is your relationship with the teachers' unions? Does an Edison school cost the state/district/taxpayers more money than a      traditional public school? What is the process for starting an Edison school in my community? How does Edison choose the schools that it manages? What is Edison Schools? Edison Schools is the nation's leading private manager of public schools. Through contracts with local school districts and public charter school boards, Edison assumes educational and operational responsibility for individual schools as well as, in select cases, for entire districts. What is a charter school? Charter schools are independently operated public schools that must meet the same academic requirements as traditional public schools but are free from most of the bureaucratic and regulatory constraints of their traditional counterparts. The charter establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school's mission, program, goals, students served, and ways to measure success. A charter school is accountable to its sponsor-usually a university, state board, or local board-to produce positive academic results and adhere to the charter contract. What is the Edison design? The Edison school design is the product of three years of research by a team of 30 full-time professional employees and numerous outside experts led by former Yale president Benno C. Schmidt, Jr. The design team, which included respected education researchers, teachers, school administrators, technology specialists, and experts in school finance and management, integrated many of the world's most successful educational practices into a comprehensive program. For additional information, click here. What is the curriculum used in Edison schools? Edison has designed a rich and challenging curriculum that has been carefully integrated to help students see the connections between knowledge and ideas and to encourage practical applications of learning. The curriculum is built around five domains: mathematics and science, humanities and the arts, character and ethics, practical arts and skills, and physical fitness and health. For additional information, click here. How are Edison schools organized? Edison schools are organized in small, flexible schools within a school, called Academies, which help ensure that every student is well known and closely guided. Each academy is led by a team of teachers who stay with the same group of students for the duration of their stay in the Academy, facilitating strong, supportive relationships between teachers and students. Our program features a Primary Academy for grades K-2; an Elementary Academy for grades 3-5; a Junior Academy for grades 6-8; a Senior Academy for grades 9 and 10; and a Collegiate Academy for grades 11 and 12. What are the Edison school hours? Although the start and end times vary from school to school, the typical Edison school day is seven hours in the Primary Academy and eight hours in the Elementary, Junior, Senior, and Collegiate Academies, compared with an average of six-and-a-half-hour days in traditional public school. For a view of a typical Edison day, click here. When does the school year start and end? The start and end dates vary from school to school, but the length of the student school year for Edison schools in their second year of operation and beyond is 198 days or a minimum of 10 percent longer than the traditional school year in the community or district the school operates in, whichever is shorter. The teacher year for schools in their second year of operation and beyond is two days longer than the student year. The extra two days are the day before students arrive and the day after students depart. In a start-up year, the length of the student year is the local norm, generally 180 days. In a start-up year, the length of the teacher year is 197 days, two weeks of pre-opening professional development, one week of in-year professional development, and the day before students arrive and the day after students leave. What is the satisfaction rating of Edison schools among parents, teachers, and students? Customer satisfaction with Edison schools is quite high, as evidenced by reports by the Gordon S. Black Corporation, an independent company which Edison commissions to survey all parents, students, and teachers in its schools each year. How does Edison serve students with special needs? The special educators in Edison Schools ensure that the Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) of all special-needs children are followed. Most special-needs students attending Edison charter schools are served through a flexible model known as responsible inclusion. Under this model, special education students are full participants in regular classrooms, with additional in-class support from certified special education teachers and related service staff (e.g., speech/language therapist, etc.) as needed. For an in-depth look at responsible inclusion, click here. Do all students have access to a computer? Yes. Every Edison school has a computer lab with printers for student use. In addition, after the first year of their school's operation, Edison students in and above the third grade are loaned a home computer for the duration of their enrollment in the school. These home computers are connected to a national intranet system that allows all students, parents, and teachers easy access to each other electronically and to the vast resource of information available on the intranet. For additional information, click here. How do Edison schools address discipline problems? Each Edison school develops and implements a written policy on student conduct and school discipline that promotes responsible student behavior and is consistent with the Edison school design as well as local and state laws and requirements. Day-to-day management of student behavior is guided by a written school discipline plan instituted before the opening of school each year. What is the cost of tuition? Edison schools are public schools, open to all students at no cost and funded with tax dollars. Does Edison have a uniform policy? No, Edison does not have an official uniform policy. Each Edison school, however, may establish a dress code or uniform policy according to the consensus of the school community. How do I enroll my child in an Edison school? Contact the school or the start-up office for the particular school in which you are interested in enrolling your child. For a list of schools and contact information, click here. Are Edison teachers certified? All Edison teachers are thoroughly screened and interviewed, and the majority of Edison teachers meet or exceed the certification requirements of the state in which they are teaching. In general, Edison requires all teachers in schools managed in partnership with school districts to meet the certification requirements in that state. The exceptions to those requirements are typically exceptions that the state has granted to the partnering district as a result of intense teacher shortages. These shortages are most often felt in hard-to-staff positions such as special education, teachers of foreign languages, and/or secondary math and science teachers. In addition, because many charter schools are granted greater hiring freedom by the charter law under which they operate, these schools are able to recruit a number of diverse and exceptional individuals for teaching positions. For example, an individual with an engineering background may be hired to teach mathematics. To find out more about teaching opportunities or to apply online, click here. What is the average salary of an Edison teacher and what benefits do you offer? All Edison teachers receive competitive salaries and a complete benefits package. In general, teacher salaries at Edison correlate with the costs of living in the communities in which our schools are located, with Edison teachers typically receiving a slightly higher salary than their local peers to compensate for their longer school year. The teacher salary structure at Edison is, however, unlike the traditional staffing model for teachers, for it is connected to a career ladder within the Edison school design. Teacher benefit packages depend on whether the school is being managed in partnership with a district or charter board. Teachers at Edison district partnership schools receive the full benefits package offered to all teachers in the partnering district. Teachers in Edison charter schools receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes health and dental insurance, as well as the opportunity to participate in a 403(b) retirement program with a company match. Edison teachers and administrative staff may also receive company stock options as part of their compensation package, contingent upon the approval of the partnership district or charter board. To find out more about Edison's teacher career ladder, click here. What is your relationship with the teachers' unions? Edison recognizes the importance of the role of teachers' unions and has maintained positive, strong, working relationships with the unions in communities throughout the country. Does an Edison school cost the state/district/taxpayers more money than a traditional public school? No. The per-pupil funding that Edison receives for managing a particular school is comparable to that spent on other public schools in the district or area. What is the process for starting an Edison school in my community? Contact Edison's Development Division. You can do this via email. To e-mail an Edison representative, click here. How does Edison choose the schools that it manages? In the case of a partnership with a school district, the district selects the school or schools to be managed by Edison. In the case of a charter school, Edison may begin working with the local, non-profit organization that is applying for the charter during the application process itself or immediately after the charter has been granted. Back ...