Supported by the Annenberg Foundation, the William Penn Foundation, and
the Accountability Review Council for the School District of Philadelphia

Of course, one has to do a lot of research to figure out the orientation of each funding group, but some of that material is available, such as IRS Form 990s, position papers and funding of various projects.

Annenberg is frequently a contributor to RAND studies. The following is a snippet from the Annenberg press release on this study:

http://www.annenbergfoundation.org/news/news_show.htm?doc_id=455616

“The privately managed schools, on average, showed gains that were comparable to those in the rest of the district.” said Brian Gill, lead author of the report and a researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

“Schools in Philadelphia have shown strong improvement that has been reflected widely across the district,” said Jolley Christman, co-founder of Research for Action and an author of the report. “But our findings show the investment in private management of schools has not paid the expected dividends.”

Meanwhile, another group of schools that were “restructured” — remaining under district management with intensive intervention and a comparable increase in resources — showed significant gains in math in the first three years studied and in reading during the first year. In the fourth year, the additional resources for the restructured schools ended, but the schools appeared to maintain their gains in math.

One of the authors of this study, Jolley Christman was with the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania for a while, but now is the president of Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, VA. It’s difficult to believe that many Ed School professors are favorable to privately-run schools.

Ms. Christman is a founder of Research for Action, which offers the public a hint of the group’s orientation on its WEB-site:

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http://www.researchforaction.org/about-us.html

HISTORY
RFA is a Philadelphia-based, non-profit organization engaged in education research and evaluation. Founded in 1992, RFA works with public school districts, educational institutions, and community organizations to improve the educational opportunities for those traditionally disadvantaged by race/ethnicity, class, gender, language/cultural difference, and ability/disability. Research for Action was founded by women who aimed to connect their social activism, feminist beliefs, and professional practice as education researchers. Basic tenets for RFA’s approach to evaluation emerge from feminist theory.

RFA continues to draw national attention as an organization that exemplifies the value of being a locally-focused, applied research organization. We were mentioned in a recent issue of Voices in Urban Education (VUE), published by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, as being an organization that typifies the kind of close relationship that helps bridge the gap between research and practice and ensures that research is attuned to local conditions.

FUNDERS*

RFA is grateful to the following foundations which support our research.

Annenberg Foundation | Carnegie Corporation of New York | Samuel S. Fels Fund | Edward W. Hazen Foundation | Charles Stewart Mott Foundation | William Penn Foundation | The Pew Charitable Trusts | The Philadelphia Foundation | Spencer Foundation | Surdna Foundation
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> Research for Action was founded by women who aimed to
> connect their social activism, feminist beliefs, and professional
> practice as education researchers. Basic tenets for RFA’s approach
> to evaluation emerge from feminist theory.

It’s difficult to believe that advocate with these sorts of beliefs is going to be very objective when it comes to evaluating private/public partnerships.

Notice also that Action for Research is funded by Annenberg and Action for Research seems to be a contributor to the RAND paper which is supposed to be “objective”.

The old adage: “follow the money” is never bad advice.

On the one side you’ve got all the usual suspects, primarily the local school board and the teacher’s local and on the other the charter operator none of whom will work unequivocally in the interest of the best education for the largest number of kids. All the aforementioned parties have interests tied to the public education system but not necessarily to the education of the public.

This year’s Paul Vallas becomes next year’s Homer T. Pinchbeck who never met a regulation he didn’t adore, a union rep he wouldn’t bend over for or a dollar that wasn’t his. What do you do then?