The Edison Project's plan to redefine public education.

The Edison Project believes that the creative, entrepreneurial forces so vital in other areas of our society can breathe new life into public education.

Two years ago a group of educators, writers, technology experts, and businesspeople came together to create an innovative school design. We took our charge very seriously--to reexamine the very nature of "school." In many cases, this analysis involved looking at things that schools once cherished but have now nearly abandoned: the critical home/school connection; common values such a love of freedom, respect for elders, commitment to decent behavior; and long-term relationships among children, parents, and teachers. But we also looked to the future: the sound use of state-of-the-art technology and how to organize educational spaces that free students' minds rather than constrain them.

Our design, The Edison Project, is based on the premise that we can reconfigure time, deploy teachers in a truly professional setting, and utilize new technologies in powerful new ways. For these reasons, my colleagues and I believe that partnerships with Edison offer progressive public school systems a means to broaden and strengthen educational opportunities for parents and children.

The Edison School Design

American education needs to be reinvented in bold and vigorous ways, and our approach represents one model for doing so. Let me describe some of the highlights of the Edison school design:

1. A basis in research. The essential elements of the Edison school design and supporting infrastructure are well tested and their efficacy well demonstrated. We've spent two years incorporating features that can be found in the world's most effective educational institutions. Our distinctive contribution lies not in any one of those features but in their integration, both at the school and the system level.

2. Clear and defining values. Everything about an Edison school is anchored in compelling philosophy of education and a system of basic values. Simple as it may seem, this will be the most powerful and invigorating element of our schools. We are …