EDISON'S FATE, THE CITY'S FUTURE
By Chris Whittle
The New York Times, April 7, 2001

Accountability is central in the 113 schools Edison operates across the country. Our job is to help our students succeed - despite the low financing and high poverty that are all too common. Such facts of life are beyond the control of our students or us, and Edison must deliver regardless. When our performance doesn't measure up, as happens from time to time, we investigate why, so that we may improve in the future.

We did some serious introspection this week, after parents in New York City failed to approve the conversion of five troubled schools to Edison's management. What could we have done better? What should we learn?

Our major mistake was made early. We were so excited about the opportunity to transform low-performing schools right in our own backyard that we agreed to a plan with flaws, however unintended by its authors.

The main problem was that the conversion process did not allow Edison to develop any sense of partnership with the Board of Education or New York City parents. We were selected through a highly formal process that precluded the interaction that we have found essential in other communities. Edison typically works closely with local boards to reach a common understanding about the goals for the schools we operate.

Moreover, some say our rejection was virtually guaranteed after the five schools were chosen without any input from their communities. A far better approach would have been to allow schools to compete for selection. In communities where such a process has been used, parents, teachers and neighborhoods had time to become acquainted with Edison's design and the resources we provide. The communities chosen were thoroughly involved, understood Edison and embraced our goals.

If these are Edison's lessons, then what might New York learn from recent events? In news coverage after the vote, opponents of Edison began to ask, "If not Edison, then what?" They realized that something must be done to change their schools. Yet, at the risk of sounding less than diplomatic, they offered only a litany of old and tired proposals that any seasoned observer of public education knows will come to little or nothing. A year from now, these schools may have new paint jobs, a few more books, a bit more technology, newly energized principals. Unfortunately, the effect of such changes will fade over time. As gloomy as it sounds, five years from now these schools will probably be pretty much the same as they are today. Real solutions require potent ingredients.

One is establishing long-term continuity and focus in schools that can survive the inevitable turnover in leadership that occurs every two to four years in most urban school systems.

Other ingredients are cutting-edge teacher development, state-of-the-art information systems and, of course, the freedom to act, largely unencumbered by bureaucracy, in the best interest of children and schools.

Even the best leaders of our public schools cannot assemble these ingredients. This is not a criticism, just a reality of public education, which is highly politicized and highly localized. But these critical ingredients can be imported if public schools work with private companies. In fields outside education, such collaborations are commonplace.

New York City's public school system must reach out to partners that have the resources to tackle enduring problems. This is not an abdication of the public trust, but an assumption of real responsibility for that trust. This is not an admission of failure, but a sign of leadership. This is not the demise of public education, but its modernization.

New York City's first significant attempt at such an educational partnership did not work. But as a union leader recently said about the emergence of private players in education, "This is not going to be put back in the bottle."

Edison will continue to grow and prosper across the country, and it or the ideas it represents will return -- stronger and better. And when these ideas return, let's hope that New York will embrace them, for the sake of all its children.

###

Chris Whittle is chief executive of Edison Schools

CER Home Page The Education Forum E-Mail CER