THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 13, 1994 TAG: 9407130623
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOE RIGERT, MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL STAR TRIBUNE
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
The Minnesota company that seeks to run public schools in Portsmouth and across the country has failed the first long-term test of its ability to improve student academic performance - at a model elementary school in Miami Beach, Fla.
The company, Education Alternatives Inc., has cited the South Pointe School as the ``best single example'' of its track record in helping to improve public education and has claimed impressive results.
But new results of a three-year comparative study show no significant advancement for South Pointe students, Dade County school officials said. The study tracked the test scores of the students who were in the company's program for three full years and found that they advanced at about the same rate as similar students at a regular elementary school. Attendance was somewhat higher at South Pointe, however.
School Superintendent Octavio Visiedo said he still likes the company's teaching program, ``but to think that Education Alternatives is the answer to the woes of public education . . . is absolutely ludicrous.''
The company declined to comment.
The South Pointe results are among a series of recent setbacks for the company that raise doubts about its future and the future of the privatization of public education, a movement led by Education Alternatives:
Last month, the company acknowledged that it had falsely reported test scores in Baltimore, where it manages all or part of the operations of 12 schools.
Later, Baltimore released its own results showing the company had not significantly improved test scores in the first two years of its contract. The city has since delayed plans to expand the company's role.
About the same time, the school superintendent in Portsmouth called for a delay of at least a year in the hiring of Education Alternatives or any other company to manage some of the city's schools.
State education officials in Maryland last month concluded that Education Alternatives had violated some federal requirements for meeting the needs of learning-impaired students at one of its Baltimore schools.
Then, in Hartford, Conn., city and school officials backed off plans to have Education Alternatives run its entire school system and $171 million annual budget for five years. Instead, they have called for competitive bids from several companies - including Education Alternatives - to serve primarily as a consultant for one year, for no guaranteed fee, with the possibility of increased involvement later. by CNB