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 Edison Hails RAND Report Tuesday, October 11, 2005 Edison Schools Chief Academic Officer John Chubb urged people interested in the serious study of achievement in public education to review the RAND report on Edison Schools issued today.
The 290-page study is titled Inspiration, Perspiration, and Time: Operations and Achievement in Edison Schools. It offers the most comprehensive independent analysis to date of the achievement gains generated by school districts and charter schools that partner with Edison Schools. It also offers RAND's recommendations to Edison and its public-school partners on how to maximize the achievement benefits of the Edison school-improvement model, which the report described as an unusually comprehensive set of strategies for promoting school performance.
The report is available through the RAND website, www.RAND.org.
"RAND is one of the premier independent research organizations in the world," said Chubb. "We commissioned RAND's study of our schools for several reasons.
"First, we were confident it would affirm the general proposition that most Edison schools bring significant achievement gains to our public-education partners. The study shows that, over time, this is exactly the case, and reconfirms results previously reported in Edison's annual reports on achievement.
"Second, we believed RAND's findings would help us to serve children even better. RAND's team of researchers has offered concrete recommendations that will help Edison, and the school districts and charter boards that hire us, to maximize achievement gains for children. We will put those recommendations to good use. While we are proud of the gains we have produced, we will not be satisfied until every Edison school consistently delivers significant achievement gains. The recommendations in this report will help us to move closer to that goal.
"But perhaps the greatest value of this report lies not in the detail of its findings, but rather in the overarching statement it makes about accountability and results. Everyone acknowledges the importance of accountability. But while every school is subject to independent financial audit, never before to our knowledge has a company or a school district submitted itself to such a rigorous, independent achievement audit.
"It is not easy to do. No company or school system has complete success in every aspect of its achievement endeavors. But the benefits of scrutiny are tremendous. America won't be truly serious about achievement until we measure it systematically, rigorously, objectively, independently and comparatively.
"We hope this study will become part of Edison's legacy of achievement leadership. "
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