Two years ago a group of educators, writers, technology experts, and businesspeople came together to create an innovative school design. We took our charge very seriously—to reexamine the very nature of “school.” In many cases, this analysis involved looking at things that schools once cherished but have now nearly abandoned: the critical home/school connection; common values such as love of freedom, respect for elders, commitment to decent behavior; and long-term relationships among children, parents, and teachers. But we also looked to the future: the sound use of state-of-the-art technology and how to organize educational spaces that free students' minds rather than constrain them.
Our design, The Edison Project, is based on the premise that we can reconfigure time, deploy teachers in a truly professional setting, and utilize new technologies in powerful new ways. For these reasons, my colleagues and I believe that partnerships with Edison offer progressive public school systems a means to broaden and strengthen educational opportunities for parents and children.
The Edison School Design
- A basis in research. The essential elements of the Edison school design and supporting infrastructure are well tested and their efficacy well demonstrated. We've spent two years incorporating features that can be found in the world's most effective educational institutions. Our distinctive contribution lies not in any one of those features but in their integration, both at the school and the system level.
- [[[[[ **** LIST ITEM IGNORED **** ]]]]]
- High standards for all children. The conviction that all children—rich and poor, girl and boy, minority and majority—can learn a great deal more than most of them do today is a hallmark of the Edison school system. Standards such as those that the Advanced Placement program expects of gifted, privileged, and “honors” students can be reached by virtually every youngster if each is given sufficient time, high-quality instruction from caring adults, an individualized learning program, and proper academic support.
- A far larger role for school in the lives of children and parents. The rest of the world has long realized that children should spend more time learning, and Edison believes it's time we caught up. Edison's academic year will be 210 days long—30 days longer than the U.S. norm. Our school day— including sports and arts activities—will run seven to eight hours, depending on the child's age. We also plan to offer preschool in those places that are interested. Our longer day, year, and preschool will add about six years to a child's K—12 education.
- [[[[[ **** LIST ITEM IGNORED **** ]]]]]
- Truly professional teachers. Great teachers will be at the heart of the Edison school. We will search out the best teachers both from the areas where we establish schools as well as from around the country. As student advisers and troubleshooters, teachers will maintain communication with families and will be in a position to nurture relationships over several years.The Edison Project will also make a major investment in teacher preparation and professional development. Plans include a distinctive school-based “residency” program for beginning teachers, as well as continuous opportunities for veterans to stay current in their fields.
- Proven—and individualized—instructional methods. Children learn best when they are taught by a variety of teaching methods. In some cases, the best method is one teacher demonstrating a geometric proof with the help of 20 students; at other times, it might be tutorial instruction or a master lesson for 100 kids taught via satellite by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist. Effective instruction also entails using different instructional tools; for example, interactive computer programs, a week-long group project, as well as the traditional chalkboard.
- Intelligent uses of powerful technology. Research indisputably shows that one key to success in the workplace or in college is the ability to master technological tools. Edison schools will emphasize technology in all parts of their enterprise—but not at the expense of the human touch. Modern technology is no substitute for great teachers, but it's an essential way to extend their reach, magnify their effectiveness, and motivate youngsters.In addition to giving students access to computers in the classroom, we will install a computer in the home of every student. This approach, which has been tried in several school districts around the country with great success, offers many benefits including round-the-clock access to learning tools and easier communication between teachers and parents.
- Organized for success. An Edison school is organized to personalize durable relationships. Approximately 100 children and 4 teachers, supplemented by teachers in specialties like art, music, and physical fitness, will belong to an independently functioning “house.” Students will maintain relationships with their teachers for two to three years, and teachers will be linked to one another, with their students' parents, and with the Edison central office.
- True accountability. Accountability is a cornerstone of both our educational and managerial philosophies. Edison students must meet performance benchmarks to be promoted; teachers must regularly meet professional service goals; school principals must pass systemwide performance reviews; and Edison schools must meet performance measures agreed to by the school district.
- Parent and community participation. Edison schools will regard families as allies. We will expect a lot from parents in the form of participation, as their schedules permit, but in return Edison schools will meet many of their needs. Our schools will be open to children all day and all year, and will provide safe, positive, and caring sites and programs for children and parents on evenings and weekends.
- The benefits of system and scale. Though we favor a decentralized approach to management and accountability, each Edison school will be part of a national system with common goals and standards, rather than a loose coalition. Each school, however, will be encouraged to build its own special character from a strong and solid foundation. Our central organization will serve the needs of each school—by dispatching special materials, relevant counsel, and moral support, as needed and always on time.
While radical in its combination of elements, particularly when imagined as features of a national system rather than an isolated “great school,” our design is not far-fetched or untested. Ours are schools whose essential elements are being tried somewhere and, when you get right down to it, are pretty self-evident. Nor are these schools for the privileged or the exceptionally bright. On the contrary, our design is built on elements that have proven especially powerful for disadvantaged kids and youngsters with special needs.
Edison's Role in Public Education
Almost everyone who hears about our educational design agrees with our main ideas, yet we are often asked: “Why a private company? What is your role in the world of public education?”
Although The Edison Project originally envisioned a national network of private, tuition-driven schools, it was always our hope that these would serve as models and catalysts for change in public education. For various reasons—the momentum of the charter school movement; pleas from elected officials, school administrators, and parents; and belief that our design is especially well suited to a diverse student population—we resolved to establish direct Edison partnerships within the framework of public education.
We aren't rigid about how this might be done. Charter school legislation—now enacted by 11 states—affords one obvious route. A straightforward management contract with a school system is another possibility. An Edison school might be thought of as a magnet school, an alternative school, or as an arrangement that helps a troubled school district in “receivership” to recover. We might also help create a new school in a system that's growing.
What do we bring to a public school partnership? By the time the first partnerships schools open in the fall of 1995, we will have made substantial direct investments in research and development that will benefit every one of them. Added investment will come in the form of technology, infrastructure improvements, teacher training, and staff development. We'll have invested millions more indirectly in curriculum, instruction, and assessment; in the production of high-quality lessons; in communications systems, computer networks, and databases; and much more.
Our team has had the luxury of two years to research, discuss, and create a truly innovative school design, something my colleague Deborah McGriff, former superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools, says public school administrators can only dream of. Moreover, we introduce accountability at a time when that idea has gained support among educators as well as the public. If we do not meet mutually established performance benchmarks, we're out of business.
Administrators are under increasing pressure to provide alternative programs to their communities, yet lack the time, resources, or staff to pull off such a daunting task. We offer a district a partnership that provides a wonderful educational design for its students. And our successes are also successes for the community. Constant pressures to improve our performance can only be a positive development for the children, parents, teachers, businesses—in short, for everyone.
Reinventing Schools
If an outside agent such as The Edison Project—free to be truly different, yet meeting public requirements such as open enrollment and public accountability—can help reinvent public education, then it should be included as an important component of education reform. And our schools' goals will meet and surpass those set by former President Bush and the nation's governors, and subsequently affirmed by President Clinton and the Congress: to have the best-educated children in the world by the year 2000.
We come to public school districts as full partners, wanting to strengthen public education and renew it through new models and alternatives. Public school systems already enter into contractual arrangements with many private providers—textbook publishers, computer manufacturers, transportation companies—so the provision of instruction and management can be seen as a natural extension.
We don't claim to have all the answers and are pleased that other ventures like ours are under way to reform and renew U.S. education. It's time we unleashed upon education the creative, entrepreneurial forces so abundantly evident in other areas of American life. If we do so, with vigor and a sense of purpose, our children will reap the benefits for decades to come.
