Philadelphia Seeks Education Providers to Operate and Manage as Many as 100 Low-Performing District Schools Tuesday, January 22, 2002 Last Friday, Philadelphias School Reform Commission (SRC) announced that it is seeking qualifications of education providers to potentially manage low performing schools in the Philadelphia School District (PSD). It is anticipated that education providers may be chosen to operate select Partnership Schools beginning in the 2002-2003 school year. According to the RFQ, education providers will partner with local community groups to manage Partnership Schools for a period of five years. This RFQ is a result of the historic partnership forged between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the city of Philadelphia on December 22, 2001. The purpose of this RFQ is to identify independent providers who will improve the educational opportunities and academic achievement for all students at Partnership Schools. The RFQ asks responding education providers to include an in-depth accounting of and references regarding the companys previous school management experiences, in terms of academic achievement, curriculum experience, staff development and financial and budgetary management. The School District anticipates that it will enter into a contract with each Provider, and that each contract will provide for performance standards and academic and financial accountability. Any organization who believes that it is qualified and/or capable of becoming the single contractor for all of the Partnership Schools (subcontracting with other Providers for the operation of a smaller number of these schools) is asked to describe its ability to serve as a Lead Provider. The SRC has taken another important step toward including education providers as an essential part of improving the educational opportunities for more than 200,000 children in the Philadelphia School District, said Chris Whittle, Edisons CEO. Edison looks forward to responding to this RFQ and hopes to join forces with Philadelphia in managing and operating Partnership Schools. The SRC previously announced an RFQ for education management organizations interested in providing consulting services to the Philadelphia School District (PSD). The due date for that RFQ is January 25.
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