Honestly, I’m surprised that so many schools were able to achieve double digit gains in year 1. Year 1 schools often focus on culture and climate. While some academic improvements are likely, the real academic growth won’t come until instruction is the focus, in years 2 and 3. Just looking at year 1′s assessment data should not imply success or failure of a turnaround. We must also look at culture and climate indicators (i.e. student, teacher and parent satisfaction surveys, student AND teacher attendance, in/out of school suspensions, etc), in addition to student academic performance. If we’re evaluating turnaround efforts on assessment data for year 1, we are setting those schools up for continued failure. The schools (teachers and leaders) must know that they have the public’s support to implement a multi-year plan to make real and lasting changes. To say that a turnaround has failed so quickly implies that all of the improvements that were made were not effective, and in most cases this is simply not true, they just have a long way to go.

The other major piece that’s missing in much of this discussion (i.e. all the blogs and the early research) is what changes are actually taking place in these schools? How does the achievement (and behavioral) data compare when you look at turnarounds vs transformation vs restarts? How does the political will of leaders (school boards, superintendents, principals) impact the turnaround effort? If teachers were replaced, was there a sufficient (and highly effective) pool of teachers to rehire from? Were community partnerships formed to address all of the social needs turnaround schools often have? How hands-on or hands-off was the state education agency in helping schools and districts make real and lasting changes? What systems, conditions, and practices were embedded into the larger district to ensure sustainability and continued growth (post-SIG funds).

Until we look at 1) a more robust (and diverse) collection of data to get a real picture of what’s happening in a school over multiple years, and 2) the structures, supports, and implementation processes of turnarounds, it is far too early to draw definitive conclusions in support of or against the revised federal SIG program, and why it is or is not working. Until then, we must support the incredibly hard work that is being done in these schools, continue to work towards equitable educational opportunities for all students, and wait for additional research.

“Private equity firms have bought textbook publishers before. In 2007, Cengage, the No. 2 U.S. college textbook publisher, was acquired by Apax Partners LLP and OMERS Capital Partners from Thomson Corp, now known as Thomson Reuters, for about $7.75 billion in cash.

McGraw-Hill received financial advice from Evercore Partners and Goldman, Sachs & Co., and legal advice from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Clifford Chance.

Apollo’s financial advisers included Credit Suisse, UBS Investment Bank and BMO Financial Group. It received deal financing from Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, UBS Investment Bank, Nomura and BMO.

Apollo received legal advice from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Morgan, Lewis and Bockius LLP.”

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/bre8ap0n1-us-mcgrawhill-apollo/

I wonder if the brain trust at Bellwether considers such financial transactions a bellwether.

From: Mara Kane [capitalroundtable@...]
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2012 6:22 AM
Subject: For-Profit Education PE Conference — Harold Levy to Chair

The Capital Roundtable is pleased to announce our ENCORE conference on –

Private Equity Investing in
For-Profit Education Companies –

How Breakdowns in Traditional Models &
Applications of New Technologies Are Driving Change

Tuesday, January 15, New York City

Sponsored by –

• Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
• Parthenon Group LLC

Private equity investing in for-profit education is soaring, and for good reason — the public and non-profit models are profoundly broken.

This is why for-profit education is one of the largest U.S. investment markets, currently topping $1.3 trillion in value.

You’ll take away a wealth of knowledge from this conference –

Serving as chair of this ENCORE conference we are happy to welcome Harold Levy, former chancellor of the New York City School System and now managing director at Palm Ventures in Greenwich, Connecticut. Palm is a family office that invests in for-profit education and other capital investments with a positive and transformative effect on society.

Harold leads the education practice, capitalizing on his vast experience in education and finance. He is also former executive vice president and general counsel of Kaplan Inc., director of Global Compliance of Citigroup, and head of litigation at Salomon Brothers.

He has served on the boards of a number of academic institutions and for-profit education companies. Harold is presently treasurer of the Roosevelt Institute and a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee of Teachers College, Columbia University. He holds a B.S. and J.D. from Cornell University and a M.A. (PPE) from Oxford University.

Register now — to learn how to achieve investment success in the education revolution!

Along with Harold, our four panel discussions will feature the shared insight of 20 of the top private equity experts in the for-profit education marketplace, including GPs, LPs, operating executives, investment bankers, lenders, consultants, and more. They will offer real-world perspectives, lessons learned and industry outlooks, plus insights on managing current portfolio companies.

Plus we’ve brought exceptional content and excellent networking together. We’ve built ample time into the agenda, including session breaks and an open lunch, when you can meet fellow attendees and featured speakers to exchange ideas and business cards.

Click here to reserve your seat!

For more information, click here. To contact me directly, feel free to call me at 212-832-7300 ext. 0, email me at mkane@….

We look forward to hearing from you!

Regards,

Mara Kane
Assistant Producer, The Capital Roundtable

P.S. The Capital Roundtable is grateful to Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP and to Parthenon Group LLC for sponsoring this outstanding event. It’s due in great part to their collaboration that we can promise that this conference is going to be so worthwhile for you.

P. P. S. Bring a colleague or client along, and receive a special discount. Please call me at 212-832-7300 ext. 0, or send an email to mkane@….

http://capitalroundtable.com/orders/packages.asp?event_id=1857&utm_source=rtlist&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1857-all-types-of-companies&utm_content=Education-PE-Conference.html&tag=mailing2first

I think the focus is less on the type of school and more on what it is we are attempting to turn around. Student performance will be affected only marginally by efforts that land on an existing industrial age system. We need to turn around the culture of public education with a methodology that changes attitudes and beliefs. By learning new methods for responding to student need, methods that represent a new paradigm, educators will adopt new ways of thinking about the job of education.