In a study funded in part by the Foundation, the RAND Corporation and Research for Action analyzed four years' of academic data to evaluate the performance of privately managed schools under the state takeover of the city's school system. According to the report, the researchers found “no evidence of differential academic benefits that would support additional expenditures on private managers.”

The researchers concluded that private managers, given additional funds to run 45 of Philadelphia's elementary and middle schools, “kept pace, but did not exceed, the achievement gains of students in the rest of the district” during a period of significant district-wide academic improvement.
 

“Schools in Philadelphia have shown strong improvement that has been reflected widely across the district,” said Jolley Christman, of Research for Action and an author of the report. “But our findings show the investment in private management of schools has not paid the expected dividends.”

With the nation’s largest number of schools under private management, the findings from Philadelphia are expected to influence policy decisions in other major cities considering non-traditional school reform measures.

State Takeover, School Restructuring, Private management, and Student Achievement in Philadelphia is available online from the RAND Corporation.

Other funders of the report include the Annenberg Foundation and the Accountability Review Council for the School District of Philadelphia.