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After the first five years of Philadelphia's experiment with private management of district public schools, a study released last week indicates that it may be time to go back to the drawing board.

But not so fast, education officials say.

According to the study, released in part by Philadelphia-based Research for Action, students in the privately managed public schools - schools controlled by Educational Management Organizations - did not score higher than students in regular Philadelphia district schools on national and state tests, despite the extra money that is spent on these students

Six private institutions, both for-profit and nonprofit - including Penn - manage the 41 EMO schools in the Philadelphia District. The other institutions involved are Edison, Inc., Victory Schools, Universal Cos., Foundations, Inc., and Temple University. EMO schools spend about $450 to $750 more per student than the district, or about $90 million each year.

For its part, Penn technically helps manage one West Philadelphia school, Penn-Alexander, though it is affiliated with several other schools in the area.

Yet, while student test results may be disappointing for some, the methods used in the study and the conclusions researchers drew received heavy criticism.

According to Nancy Streim, associate dean for graduate and professional education at Penn's Graduate School of Education, the researchers' work was too narrow, and did not take into account other progress that had been made by the schools.

"There is definitely a place for [standardized testing], but it is misleading to use standardized measures as the only way to determine progress," Streim said.

Streim also emphasized that the EMO schools were, prior to the private institutions' involvement, the 41 worst-performing schools in the district.

For example, Lea Elementary, a Penn-affiliated school since 2001, saw the number of 8th-grade students reading at or above their grade level rise from 8 percent to 39 percent in the past four years, according to Streim. One-third of the graduating students at Lea were also accepted into selective Philadelphia high schools last year.

Five years ago, no one had been accepted, Streim said.

Wilson, another Penn-affiliated school, "and Lea are no longer among the lowest-performing schools because of the work we've done with them," Streim said.

Streim also explained there were benefits to a partnership with a university that could not be quantified and would not appear in terms of numerical data.

"Penn students, when they interact with high-school kids, act as role models so kids can look up to them, but Penn students learn too - it's a reciprocal relationship," said College junior Saken Kulkarni, a board member of Penn's West Philadelphia Tutoring Project.

Sharif El-Mekki, principal of Shaw Middle School, an Edison-affiliated school in West Philadelphia, agreed that, while the tests were important, they did not represent the most accurate gauge of school and student performance.

Researchers "are looking at one aspect of the situation," El-Mekki said. "You have to ask, 'Where did these schools start from?'"

El-Mekki noted the tremendous progress at Shaw in particular, saying that, four years ago, 80 percent of students were below basic achievement levels, and, in 2006, only 40 percent were.

"This is an example of how test scores alone don't begin to reflect the added value of having a university partner," Streim added. "It can broaden students horizons and expose them to a much greater range of educational inputs and opportunities."

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