Edison President and CEO Terry Stecz announced that Dr. Joseph J. Wise, former superintendent of the nation’s 20th largest public-school system, will become the company’s new Chief Education Officer. Mr. Stecz simultaneously announced the formation of The Edison Learning Institute, a new research and development initiative that will be headed by one of the Company’s founding scholars, Dr. John Chubb. Dr. Chubb will serve as Senior Executive Vice President of New Product Development and Managing Director of the Institute.

“There are two overarching themes behind Edison’s success,” said Mr. Stecz: “Our commitment to positive partnerships with public educators to improve student achievement and to groundbreaking research and development to bring our public-school partners the very best in research-based learning techniques.

“Dr. Joseph Wise has served since 2005 as Superintendent of the Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, Florida. Prior to that, he was superintendent of the largest school district in Delaware, the Christina School District in Wilmington. Dr. Wise was our first choice to lead Edison’s efforts to help public-school systems improve learning for all students.”

Edison Schools’ new Chief Education Officer commented: “This is one of the greatest callings in public education today. It is the ideal platform for my passion, which is the passion of all public educators: improving student learning. I am here because of Edison’s record and its commitment to improving education for all children.”

In Jacksonville, Dr. Wise led achievement gains across the board, enjoying particular success designing systems to improve learning among children of color. His doctoral dissertation was an analysis of how best to recruit and retain African-American teachers in urban public school systems.

In addition to improving learning rates among elementary students and children of color, Dr. Wise successfully tackled the vexing, sometimes neglected challenge of improving high-school achievement rates. He led the adoption of Florida’s most rigorous high school graduation requirements while also increasing the high-school graduation rate. His initiatives produced an impressive 34% jump, in just one year, in the number of students scoring well on AP tests – including a 52% jump among African-American children.

Dr. Wise’s many successes stemmed in large measure from his ability to work closely with fellow-public educators. He successfully negotiated the district’s first-ever multi-year contract with its teachers, in part, by using innovative business best practices. Typically, he converted the district to a self-pay insurance system to help finance increased compensation for teachers and principals.

Dr. Wise’s knowledge of business best practices comes from first-hand experience. From 1998 to 2002, he was Chairman and CEO of eSchool Solutions, Inc., an education technology company in Orlando, Florida. He has also served in key management and organizational development roles in one of the best-known brands in the entertainment business, Walt Disney World Co.

Dr. John Chubb, whose research and development helped to build the successful Edison Schools learning model in 1992, will head the new Edison Learning Institute. Before joining Edison, he was senior fellow at The Brookings Institution and a professor at Stanford University.

In addition to his work at Edison, Dr. Chubb has since 2000, been a member of the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution where he worked with the leading education scholars in the nation on research and recommendations to meet the great challenges faced by public education. He also serves on the editorial board of Education Next, recently voted the nation’s most influential education journal. Dr. Chubb has authored hundreds of professional articles and books on public education, most recently, “Within Our Reach: How America Can Educate Every Child and Bridging the Achievement Gap,” with Tom Loveless.

Dr. Chubb believes “this is perhaps the most exciting time in education innovation in the nation’s history. More research is needed to document independently which of the many exciting ideas in schools today are making the biggest difference for student achievement.” The Institute will partner with think tanks, universities, foundations and reform organizations to sponsor and facilitate research into the most promising practices in education. This research will be available to the public and advance the cause for all of America’s schools.”

The Edison Learning Institute is a research and development enterprise. Its research mission will be both internal and external. Internally, it will develop evaluation protocols and systems to examine objectively and self-critically Edison’s current practices—helping to improve them, or, if necessary, replace them. “The world of school improvement is full of good ideas,” said the Institute’s new leader, “but too seldom are those ideas subjected to rigorous evaluation in practice, and too often they are abandoned before they have had sufficient chance to be proven or rejected. Research-based learning and teaching systems are at the core of Edison’s success. After 16 years focusing on helping children to learn today, it will be invigorating to have the opportunity to focus on helping to build tomorrow’s learning successes.”

Edison CEO Stecz added: “The Institute is responsible for identifying leading-edge education approaches and technologies that will enable our students to achieve academic excellence in the 21st century. Through development and research of new and enhanced products in curriculum design and technologies, the Institute will drive our innovation and ensure that Edison remains atop the industry as a visionary pioneer and leader.”

Edison Schools is the nation’s leading public school partner with those schools and local school districts. Currently serving 219,000 students in 18 states, it raises student achievement, improves educational outcomes, and focuses on its mission of providing a world-class education to every student – an education that closes every achievement gap and prepares every child for college and a career.