EDUCATION ENTREPRENEURS
SERVING PUBLIC SCHOOLS

INDUSTRY RESOURCES

THE CHARTER MARKETPLACE: WHERE SUPPLY MEETS DEMAND: Connecting service and equipment vendors with the nation's charter schools, at the 2002 National Charter School Conference. List of vendors.

Eduventures.com, Inc. is an education industry research and information services firm. The Company's extensive web-based resources are designed to help education businesses develop strategy, raise capital and acquire talent. Eduventures.com also provides education industry investors with up-to-date news and analysis on industry mergers and acquisitions, investments, venture funding, alliances and IPOs. Many of the Company's research and information services are available free of charge. In-depth research, targeted industry analysis, and custom advisory services are available via subscription. Eduventures.com has recently purchased the highly regarded Education Industry Group, LLC, which was founded in 1992 by John M. McLaughlin to connect the business, investment and education communities.

Association of Educators in Private Practice
Website: http://www.aepp.org
Telephone: (800) 252-3280
AEPP is a non-profit, national professional organization made up of private practice educators. Their mission is based on five ideals: to support and advance the education of students; to aid and assist educators in private practice in performing their lawful functions; to enhance the effectiveness and professionalism of educators in private practice; to encourage, sponsor, and facilitate the intercommunication and sharing of ideas and issues identified as common and relevant to educators in private practice; and to promote and exchange the instruction and training of an educated citizenry.

INTERNATIONAL: EdInvest: Facilitating Investment in the Global Education Market
Website: www.worldbank.org/edinvest
EdInvest, a World Bank project, seeks to bring private interests into underdeveloped countries for improving schools. 

BRIEFING PAPERS

Public-Private Partnerships: A Consumer's Guide: Public-private partnerships are at an all time high but parents and others often have difficulty making decisions without concrete information to guide them. This CER guide is here to help, with history and individual company information on public-private education partnerships. 

Janet Beales Kaidantzis looks across the Atlantic for insights on educational delivery:
In Britain's Emerging Education Industry she finds: "In the absence of broad policies that decouple education provision from strict government control (as charter legislation is doing in many U.S. states), the private provision of instruction and school management in the U.K. will be piecemeal at best. 
Her investigation of Special Education in England analyses key policy differences between the United States and England, and finds that while both countries have done much to address the needs of special learners, neither country has succeeded in creating a policy that is both cost effective and meets the needs of students with disabilities. 

PRIVATE PROVIDERS

        Public education is changing in many ways, one of which is the role of school management providers. For years, the thought of a for-profit company running a public school was taboo. But the dissatisfaction with the quality of our public schools has created a demand for innovative and accountable schools. Private management providers are working to meet that need.

        Management providers survive on a pragmatic relationship with the community. They provide the education services agreed upon in their contract with the district or education agency. It is data-driven pragmatism that determines the success of the organization, and that attracts educators and communities to their programs.

        Below is a list of 23 major private providers which manage public schools, including over 100 charter schools. It is a growing list that does not include some of the small for-profit schools operating in charter school states or private schools contracted by school districts to serve at-risk and adjudicated youth. For more information, contact the individual companies or The Center for Education Reform at 202-822-9000.

        See also THE CHARTER MARKETPLACE: WHERE SUPPLY MEETS DEMAND for service and equipment vendors serving the nation's charter and district public schools. Link to List.

        See also Public-Private Partnerships: A Consumer's Guide, offering background and individual company information on public-private education partnerships. 

THE COMPANIES

Advantage Schools (Bought by Mosaica in 2001) Advantage Schools serve about 9000 children in 9 charter schools in five states and the District of Columbia. Schools typically open as elementary schools and grow by a grade per year through grade 12. Telephone: (617) 523-2220 or (888) 292-2344
Web: www.advantage-schools.com

Aspire Public Schools (formerly University Public Schools) Aspire Publics Schools serves three schools in California with an enrollment of 970 pupils, and plans to open three new California schools for the 2001-02 school year and one in 2002-2003. Telephone: (650) 637-2060
Web: www.aspirepublicschools.org

Beacon Education Management (formerly Alternative Public Schools) Beacon fully manages 25 public charter schools in five states and the District of Columbia, and provides limited service management to four other charter schools. Total enrollment served by Beacon Schools is about 7500. Telephone: (508) 836-4461 or (800) 789-1258
Web: www.beaconedu.com

Chancellor Academies Chancellor Academies serves more than 10,000 students in 37 charter schools, with five new schools scheduled to open in the fall of 2001. The company also operates two independent private day schools. Telephone: (305) 648-5950
Web: www.chancelloracademies.com

Charter School Administrative Services The company operates eight charter schools in Michigan enrolling about 4,800 students, and several schools in Texas, Missouri and Florida. Telephone: (248) 569-7787 or (248) 334-2814 or (800) 425-1415.
Web: None

Charter Schools USA Charter Schools USA currently has 8,500 students in 16 schools in Florida and Texas. An April, 2001 "strategic alliance" of Charter Schools USA and Haskell Education Services calls for Haskell to provide design-build, finance and auxiliary services to schools managed by Charter Schools USA. Telephone: (954) 202-3500 or (954)791-9910
Web: www.charterschooolsusa.com

Community Education Partners Responding to the Texas Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program to remove disturbing youths from the classrooms, Community Education Partners educates about 1,000 students in Houston and 300 in Dallas, Texas. Telephone: (713) 394-3500
Web: http://www.houstonisd.org/Events/cep/

Designs for Learning, Inc. Designs for Learning, Inc., serves six charter schools in Minnesota with from 100 to 300 students in each school. Telephone: (651) 645-0200
Web: www.designlearn.com

Edison Schools More than 57,000 students in 45 cities and 113 public schools are Edison students. Edison counts each academy serving different grade levels as a separate school even if they are housed in the same building and served by the same school office. Telephone: (212) 419-1600
Web: www.edisonschools.com

Excel Education Centers, Inc. Excel Education Centers, Inc., serves six schools in Arizona that enroll about 900 students in Grades 6-12, and a seventh campus for grades 9-12. Schools mostly serve Arizonašs at-risk Native American population and some campuses see a 25 to 30 percent annual student turnover because of the high student mobility. Telephone: (800) 417-9036 or (520) 778-5764
Web: www.excel.apscc.k12.az.us

Honor Schools, Inc. Internet sources show that the Honors Academy Charter School began as a Virtual School in 1999, and subsequently established13 campuses in Texas that now serve about 2,000 students. Telephone: (888) 314- 4339 or (214) 800-4100
Web: www.honorschools.com

California Honor Schools, Inc. (Subsidiary of Honor Schools, Inc.) Telephone: (888) 273-5771 or (949) 262-3202
Web: www.honorschools.com

Innovative Education Management, Inc. Innovative Education Management is described as a "virtual" school district for the Horizon Instructional Systems charter schools (see above) which specialize in "independent study charters" that support home-schooled and "off-site" students. Some of the Horizon sites offer a comprehensive curriculum, one school is a re-entry point for students who dropped out because of drug use or incarceration, and another offers a college preparatory regimen. Innovative Education Management also lists six other schools. Telephone: (800) 979-4436 (number not available from all areas)
Web: http://www.ieminc.org

K12.com K-12 is a national provider of online education curriculum for home schooling families and schools, and as a manager of online charter schools. Norristown Area School District was the first to sign on with K12 to manage and provide curriculum for the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School. Enrollment in the school, scheduled to open September, 2001 for K-2, is capped at 1,500. The school will grow by three grades each year to serve K-12 by 2004. Telephone: (703) 748-4005 or (866) YOUR-K12
Web: www.K12.com

LearnNow Inc. (Bought by Edison Schools in 2001) LearnNowšs seven schools serve about 5,000 students. Telephone: (212) 209-1200
Web: www.LNschools.com

The Leona Group The Leona Group manages 33 school sites -- 21 in Michigan and 12 in Arizona and Ohio. The schools enroll approximately 11,500 students. Telephone: (517) 333-9030
Web: www.leonagroup.com

Mosaica Education Mosaica serves more than 5,000 students in 20 charter schools in five states. Telephone:(415) 491-1305
Web: www.mosaicaeducation.com

National Heritage Academies (formerly Educational Development Corporation) National Heritage Academies operates 27 academies with nearly 11,400 students. Academies typically open with grades K-5 and add a grade each year through eighth grade. Telephone: (616)575-6800 or (800) 699-9235
Web: www.heritageacademies.com

Nobel Learning Communities Nobel operates 208 schools in 15 states with 27,000 students. Most of the schools are private and include pre-school, elementary and middle schools, schools for the learning challenged, corporate-sponsored schools and specialty high schools. Seven are public charter schools. Telephone: (610) 891-8200
Web: www.nobelllearning.com

Ombudsman Educational Services: Ombudsman is a private provider of alternative education for public school students who have trouble functioning in conventional schools and are at risk of dropping out or being expelled. It has contracts to operate more than 70 alternative schools in 11 states serving from 5,000 to 7,000 students. It opened its first charter school in 1996 and now operates four charter schools in Arizona serving 385 students who need an alternative school setting with a fifth charter school scheduled to open fall 2001. Telephone: (847) 367-6383 or (800) 833-9235
Web: www.ombudsman.com/

Paradigm Accelerated Curriculum (PAC), P.O. Box 200, Dublin, TX 76446, Phone: 254-445-4272, Website: www.pacworks.com/, Email: learn@pacworks.com.

SABIS Educational Systems The SABIS-managed network consists of 24 financially and administratively independent public and private schools in 10 countries, including five public charter schools in the United States. About 20,000 students attend these schools, with 4,600 in the United States and 3,700 in public charter schools. Telephone: (952) 918-1850
Web: www.sabis.net

Victory Schools, Inc. 712 Fifth Avenue, 23rd floor
New York, New York 10011

White Hat Management, LLC White Hat operates seven "community" elementary schools (charter schools are called "community" schools in Ohio) and five "Life Skills" high schools in the state enroll about 4,000 students. Telephone: (330) 996-0202
Web: www.whitehatmgmt.com

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