http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/07/18/qt
Connecticut State Representative Selim Noujaim, a Republican, was a key player in amending a bill in June so that some state scholarship funds that would have been restricted to students at public and private nonprofit institutions would also be available to those at for-profit institutions. The Hartford Courant reported that Noujaim is a trustee of Post University, for which the for-profit institution pays him $4,500 a year. Connecticut law bars public officials from taking any action that creates a "direct monetary gain" to a business with which the official is associated. Noujaim said he would have recused himself if the bill helped only Post, but said that there was no need to do so since it helped other for-profit institutions. He also said he was not involved in Post for the money, telling the Courant that "I'm in it for the kids."
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Swedish Schools Are Benefiting From For-Profit Schools
The folks at Cato Institute have re-published a column written by one of their scholars on the benefits his country are seeing from for-profit schools
From a new piece at the Cato Institute’s website, Cato.org:
The central problem facing education systems around the world has not been a lack of excellent schools; it has been our inability to routinely replicate them. If you build a smarter cell phone or design a safer car, your sales increase, your company grows, and you spawn countless imitators. But education is different. If you find a better way to teach children, your innovations seldom reach beyond a single neighborhood.
These words were written by Andrew Coulson, the director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom in Washington D.C. Coulson also authored the book Market Education: The Unknown History. His article on the for-profit school industry in Sweden originally appeared the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. Coulson recounts how over the past two decades, Sweden and the United States have tried to address that problem in very different ways. Those very different ways have yielded, not surprisingly, very different results. In the United States, philanthropists have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to replicate what they consider to be the best charter schools. Sweden’s free schools system, by contrast, has allowed both for-profit and non-profit private schools to compete for the privilege of serving students.
To find out how well the U.S. approach is working, I recently studied the academic performance of California’s charter school networks (groups of two or more schools with the same management or teaching methods). I discovered that there is essentially no correlation between the performance of these networks and the amount of philanthropic funding they have received. That means philanthropists are indiscriminately replicating the bad and the mediocre networks as well as the good ones. On average, charter schools perform at about the same level as traditional government schools.
The Swedish private school experience is not uniform. While for-profit schools are growing substantially over time, bringing their higher quality services to more and more families every year, non-profit schools have experienced relatively little growth.
From a new piece at the Cato Institute’s website, Cato.org:
The central problem facing education systems around the world has not been a lack of excellent schools; it has been our inability to routinely replicate them. If you build a smarter cell phone or design a safer car, your sales increase, your company grows, and you spawn countless imitators. But education is different. If you find a better way to teach children, your innovations seldom reach beyond a single neighborhood.
These words were written by Andrew Coulson, the director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom in Washington D.C. Coulson also authored the book Market Education: The Unknown History. His article on the for-profit school industry in Sweden originally appeared the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. Coulson recounts how over the past two decades, Sweden and the United States have tried to address that problem in very different ways. Those very different ways have yielded, not surprisingly, very different results. In the United States, philanthropists have donated hundreds of millions of dollars to replicate what they consider to be the best charter schools. Sweden’s free schools system, by contrast, has allowed both for-profit and non-profit private schools to compete for the privilege of serving students.
To find out how well the U.S. approach is working, I recently studied the academic performance of California’s charter school networks (groups of two or more schools with the same management or teaching methods). I discovered that there is essentially no correlation between the performance of these networks and the amount of philanthropic funding they have received. That means philanthropists are indiscriminately replicating the bad and the mediocre networks as well as the good ones. On average, charter schools perform at about the same level as traditional government schools.
The Swedish private school experience is not uniform. While for-profit schools are growing substantially over time, bringing their higher quality services to more and more families every year, non-profit schools have experienced relatively little growth.
New Oriental's fiscal 4Q profit more than doubles
By The Associated Press
updated 7/18/2011 6:37:54 PM ET
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43801651/ns/business-personal_finance
New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. said Monday that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit more than doubled as it signed up more students for its language training and test prep courses.
The company, which is based in Beijing and provides private educational services, reported net income climbed to $14.3 million, or 37 cents per American depositary share, in the three months ended May 31.
That compares with net income of $5.8 million, or 15 cents per American depositary share, in the same period last year.
Excluding the impact of a $1.5 million loss related to the disposal of two subsidiaries during the quarter, New Oriental would have earned 49 cents per American depositary share, the company said.
Analysts were anticipating earnings of 26 cents per American depositary share, according to FactSet.
Quarterly revenue surged 59 percent to $137.4 million, up from $86.6 million in the prior-year quarter. Analysts were anticipating revenue of $119.7 million.
The company said enrollment during the fourth quarter grew 11.9 percent from a year earlier to 489,100.
For the full fiscal year, the company earned $101.8 million, or $2.61 per American depositary share, compared with net income of $77.9 million, or $2.01 per American depositary share, in fiscal 2010.
Revenue grew 44 percent to $557.9 million, up from $386.3 million in the prior fiscal year.
New Oriental said it expects that fiscal first-quarter revenue will range from $255.8 million to $265.4 million, representing year-over-year growth in the range of 33 percent to 38 percent. Analysts expect revenue of $255.4 million.
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Meanwhile, the company said that, starting Aug. 18, it will adjust the ratio of its American depositary shares representing common shares from one ADS to four common shares, to one ADS for one common share.
New Oriental ADS holders as of the close of business on Aug. 17 will receive three additional ADSs for each ADS then held, the company said.
The effect of this ratio change on the ADS price is expected to take place on Aug. 19.
The ratio change will have the same effect as a four-for-one stock split, the company said.
Shares rose 74 cents to $120.60 in aftermarket trading after ending the regular session down $3.16, or 2.6 percent, to $119.86.
updated 7/18/2011 6:37:54 PM ET
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43801651/ns/business-personal_finance
New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. said Monday that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit more than doubled as it signed up more students for its language training and test prep courses.
The company, which is based in Beijing and provides private educational services, reported net income climbed to $14.3 million, or 37 cents per American depositary share, in the three months ended May 31.
That compares with net income of $5.8 million, or 15 cents per American depositary share, in the same period last year.
Excluding the impact of a $1.5 million loss related to the disposal of two subsidiaries during the quarter, New Oriental would have earned 49 cents per American depositary share, the company said.
Analysts were anticipating earnings of 26 cents per American depositary share, according to FactSet.
Quarterly revenue surged 59 percent to $137.4 million, up from $86.6 million in the prior-year quarter. Analysts were anticipating revenue of $119.7 million.
The company said enrollment during the fourth quarter grew 11.9 percent from a year earlier to 489,100.
For the full fiscal year, the company earned $101.8 million, or $2.61 per American depositary share, compared with net income of $77.9 million, or $2.01 per American depositary share, in fiscal 2010.
Revenue grew 44 percent to $557.9 million, up from $386.3 million in the prior fiscal year.
New Oriental said it expects that fiscal first-quarter revenue will range from $255.8 million to $265.4 million, representing year-over-year growth in the range of 33 percent to 38 percent. Analysts expect revenue of $255.4 million.
Advertise | AdChoices
Meanwhile, the company said that, starting Aug. 18, it will adjust the ratio of its American depositary shares representing common shares from one ADS to four common shares, to one ADS for one common share.
New Oriental ADS holders as of the close of business on Aug. 17 will receive three additional ADSs for each ADS then held, the company said.
The effect of this ratio change on the ADS price is expected to take place on Aug. 19.
The ratio change will have the same effect as a four-for-one stock split, the company said.
Shares rose 74 cents to $120.60 in aftermarket trading after ending the regular session down $3.16, or 2.6 percent, to $119.86.
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