Profiles of For-Profit Education Management Organizations 2004-2005. Seventh-Annual Report

This annual report, in its seventh edition, found that Education Management Organizations (EMOs) tend to focus on managing charter primary schools and on enrolling relatively large numbers of students in those schools. Fifty-nine EMOs operate in 24 states and the District of Columbia, enrolling some 239,766 students. The report is the most comprehensive resource on the for-profit education management industry. It presents the factors shaping the industry, such as profitability, accountability, and questionable relationships. It also describes a large EMO business model and presents two developments in 2004-05 that merit particular attention. One is the formation of the The National Council of Education Providers. The second is the Department of Education announcement that the Schools and Staffing Survey, which provided information on charter schools, will cease providing such information on all charters nationwide but instead will only cover a random sample. Data in the present report is summarized through charts on for-profit education management companies, including charter schools. Some charts present data by company name and location, the total number of public schools under management, the number of public schools under management that are charter schools, the total number of students in managed schools, and the states in which company is managing public schools. Other charts present charter school administrative services and a detailed directory including discontinued schools. Appendices include: (1) Companies Previously Profiled Not Included in This Report; (2) For-Profit Virtual Schools Listed by State; (3) Methods Related to Common Core of Data Calculations, and Methods for Compiling School Profiles; and (4) National Average Enrollments by Grade Levels. (Contains 8 tables and 8 notes.)