Education management industry reconfiguring to meet demand for supplemental education

May 31, 2006

The for-profit Education Management Organization (EMO) industry is consolidating and some EMOs are shifting business models to meet the demand for education services outside of school management, according to “The Profiles of For-Profit Education Management Organizations: 2005-2006.” The eighth-annual report was released by the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University .<separator></separator>The Profiles report finds that, compared to 2004-2005, fewer EMOs are in business (51, down from 59) and the number of EMO-managed schools declined slightly (521, down from 535). The number of students enrolled in EMO-managed schools, however, has remained stable. These data, along with the growing market for supplemental education services (i.e. tutoring, summer schools, and consulting schools and districts on ways to meet Adequate Yearly Progress demands of the No Child Left Behind Act), suggest that the EMO industry is entering a period of reconfiguration.<separator></separator>The landscape of EMO school management – steady enrollment, fewer managed schools – reveals that EMOs, particularly large EMOs (companies that manage 10 or more schools), are enrolling relatively large numbers of students in their schools. EMOs tend to focus on managing charter primary schools, and enrollment numbers in some of those schools are also relatively high. These findings are consistent with the central conclusion of the 2004-2005 Profiles report.<separator></separator>Collectively, large EMOs manage 15 percent of the nation's charter schools, but enroll 21 percent of the nation's charter school students. Eleven of the 12 large EMOs manage charter schools that enroll more students than the average U.S. charter school.<separator></separator>The large EMOs also manage 20.2 percent of the nation's charter primary schools, but enroll 32.1 percent of the nation's charter primary school students. Ten of the 12 large EMOs manage charter primary schools that enroll more students than the average U.S. charter primary school.<separator></separator>Find this document on the web at:<separator></separator><a href="http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/CERU/CERU_2006_emo.htm">http://www.asu.edu/educ/epsl/CERU/CERU_2006_emo.htm </a><separator></separator>