Edison's messages strike home

Edison Schools, founded in 1992 to contract with school districts throughout the nation to run public schools, continues to run a series of full-page ads regarding education.

It is both interesting and heartening to see the messages a company like Edison is using on its ads, especially in the era of high-stakes testing mandated by the No Child Left Behind law.

Edison is clearly aware that quality education is expensive, no matter who provides it. Here are two more ads worth reading:

Headline: Would children read better if “reading” were taught less?

Text: “We know from research and experience that to become successful readers, children need to learn how to read in a systematic and intensive way. A single-minded focus on this over the past decade has produced significant increases in primary reading scores. And that’s important. But, unfortunately, upper elementary and secondary students have not made similar progress in reading comprehension.

“Could it be that drilling students in reading skills has resulted in less time devoted to the content areas—and thus less time to develop the contextual knowledge students need to make sense of what they’re reading?

“Might students become better readers if we gave them more engaging and substantive content—and spent less time ‘teaching reading’?

“Something to think about.”

Here’s another one:

Headline: Is overnight delivery more important than our children’s education?

Text: “From the moment we entrust a package to an overnight delivery service, sophisticated technology tracks its every move. We can go online the next morning and watch its progress toward the final destination. If something goes wrong, we know in an instant—and can take immediate steps to address the problem.

“Not so with something far more precious—our children’s education. Too often we don’t know until long after the school year how well our children are moving toward their ‘destination.’ Imagine how helpful it would be if all teachers could monitor student learning in real time—so they could respond to learning problems as they occur.

“The technology and system exist. But most schools still don’t have access to such tools. Which raises some troubling questions about priorities.

“Something to think about.”

There are other ads, all interesting. After a decade and a half of running public schools, this looks like a private company that “gets” it.