Eric.ed.gov – Student Achievement in Schools Managed by Mosaica Education, Inc

This report by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the first comprehensive effort to assess student achievement in public schools managed by Mosaica Education, Inc., one of the leading private management companies in education, marketing itself to charter boards and school districts since 1997. Schools examined in the report had been managed by Mosaica for at least two years, some for three or more years, to provide an analysis of trends. The first part of the evaluation compares student achievement between 11 charter schools managed by Mosaica during 2000-2001, to other schools in the state with the same grade levels and a comparable percentage of low-income students. The AFT study ranks each Mosaica school among the comparison schools based on the 2000-2001 average math and reading score of every grade tested by the state. Findings for the 11 schools include: (1) In grade 5, the Denver Arts & Technology Academy ranked in the lowest decile in both math and reading; (2) Marion T. Academy in Delaware ranked in the lowest decile in math and reading in both third and fifth grades; (3) Three of five schools in Michigan ranked in the lowest, second-lowest or third-lowest deciles in math and reading; (4) Liberty Academy in Jersey City, New Jersey, ranked in the lowest decile in fourth-grade math and reading; and (5) In Pennsylvania, the two newest Mosaica schools in the state ranked in the lowest or second-lowest deciles. The second section of this study incorporates 2001-2002 testing results, as well as assessment data for previous years. In addition to math and reading, the analysis uses assessment data for other subjects (e.g., science and writing). While 2001-2002 assessment data are not yet available to construct multi-school comparison groups, the analysis compares the Mosaica schools to trends in state averages and the school district in which the charter school is geographically located (referred to as the “host” school district). When compared to host school districts with the same or similar rates of poverty, Mosaica’s charter schools ranked below average on 2001-2002 student achievement in nine out of the 11 sites they operated. (Contains 10 footnotes and 14 tables.)