The company was founded in 1992 as the Edison Project, largely the brainchild of Chris Whittle. The expansion of Edison included the involvement of Tom Ingram, Benno C. Schmidt, Jr., John Chubb, and Chester E. Finn, Jr.. It was founded around the idea of school vouchers.
Approach to education
Edison claimed that it could run public schools for less money than school districts could, and that it would improve student achievement while making a profit for its shareholders. Edison attracted ideological support from backers of privatization and school vouchers, including The Wall Street Journal and the Hoover Institution. In 2008, the company announced the acquisition of the education software company Provost Systems, based in Santa Clara, California, which was renamed EdisonLearning. In 2013, the NAHT., in partnership with EdisonLearningUK, developed the Aspire Pilot Programme for schools judged as Satisfactory or Requires Improvement by Ofsted. By 2014, EdisonLearning’s educational service offerings had moved well beyond the management of charter schools, to include virtual and blending learning, and dropout recovery and prevention centers. Throughout its history, EdisonLearning has provided educational services to 474 school partnerships in 32 states.
Expansion and contraction
Edison's stock was publicly traded on the NASDAQ for four years. The company reported only one profitable quarter while it was publicly traded. After reaching a high of close to USD$40 per share in early 2001, shares fell to 14 cents. Also in 2001, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged that Edison failed to disclose that as much as 41 percent of its revenue that year consisted of money that it never saw: $154 million. By 2002, Edison was courting Roger Milliken for a possible bailout. The company was eventually taken private in 2003, in a buyout facilitated by Liberty Partners on behalf of the Florida Retirement System, which handles pension investments for the state's public school teachers; The deal valued the company at $180 million or $1.76 per share. After losing many contracts, Edison diversified away from the management of public schools and into marketing conventional supplemental services such as testing, summer school and tutoring. Most of its new business involves providing such services rather than trying to manage schools. In 2008, the School District of Philadelphia, Edison's largest single client with 20 schools, later announced plans to dismiss the company as a manager, noting that it and other private firms would be eligible to reapply.The Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/15/2008"> By June 18 that year, Philadelphia's School Reform Commission voted to seize six schools from outside contractors— four of them run by Edison— citing lack of improvement. In 2011, former Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced that he was partnering with EdisonLearning to set up dropout prevention and recovery centers for high school-age students who have already left school or are at risk of leaving and want to earn a standard high school diploma. The centers would be called "Magic Johnson Bridgescape Academies." In 2014, Thom Jackson bought the company. Jackson serves as Chief Executive Officer and President at EdisonLearning, Inc. Jackson had served as Chief Operating and Legal Officer at EdisonLearning, Inc.
Criticism
Edison's educational and financial performance has been the subject of criticism. Despite initial promises of costs reductions, client districts reported higher costs for their Edison schools. Edison's claims about academic improvement failed to live up to the company's promises. A July 2002 New York Times analysis of Edison's claims found that the troubled Cleveland, Ohio, school system achieved higher gains than Edison's schools when analyzed with the methodology Edison applied to its own schools' achievement. In the period the failure of Edison Schools to revolutionize education became apparent, supporters of privatized education have criticized Whittle's for entering contracts with public school districts rather than setting up completely private schools.
