EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Educational Organizations and Systems

Educational Organizations and Systems

Introduction

Educational management organizations (EMOs) are independent, for-profit companies that provide whole school management to public schools. The term EMO, coined by Wall Street analysts, is intended to reflect similarities between such companies and health maintenance organizations (HMOs). An EMO is responsible for all aspects of a school, as it shoulders responsibility for an entire school's operations and services that include, but are not limited to, the following (Molnar & Garcia, 2007: 54):

Strategic planning, for the short- and long term

Academic/instructional program, including the curriculum

Academic outcomes, including student testing and grading

Recruitment, selection, training, and evaluation of the principal as well as of the teachers

Staff development

Financial oversight

Front office operations

Food and transportation services

Facility upkeep

EMOs fund their operations primarily through the use of public tax dollars, the same source as that utilized by other public schools. EMOs manage either charter or district public schools (Hemsley & Oplatka, 2006: 316). The use of an educational management organization by a school represents a paradigm change from the traditional modus operandi of public school management. The operational responsibility of schools has traditionally rested with a school district office that reports directly to a publicly elected school board. This board has direct responsibility for the oversight of district personnel. School officials are hired by the school district. In contrast, an EMO is a third-party, independent company that hires its own staff with its own approach to school management and is free from any direct oversight as to how it operates.

The rationale for an EMO is that such a company will provide innovative management personnel who possess the pedagogical, financial, and operational expertise to create a performance-driven school culture (Plank & Arsen, 2000: 12). This is what private companies do. The school is organized around an educational and organizational model to achieve the strategic goals of the school. The EMO applies proven business practices it believes will result in excellent educational programs that are operated efficiently and will result in enhanced high student performance. It is the potential for these results that encourages public schools to make the paradigm change.

Structure

This relationship is structured with a contract between the EMO and the governing board of the school, which is either the charter school's board of directors or the elected school board that oversees the school district. The contract spells out outcomes and performance expectations for the school, with the responsibility for their achievement resting with the EMO. While final legal responsibility always rests with the governing board, when the board hires an EMO, the board steps aside from daily oversight of the school (The Center for Education Reform, 2008: 1). The governing board hands over to the EMO the responsibility for the school's operations and the board establishes the expectations for the EMO's performance. The educational management company procures access to the public revenues with which to fund school operations.

Why Educational Management Organizations?

Changes in the educational environment have set up the context for the emergence of ...