Mosaica Education

Mosaica was co-founded in 1997 by Dr. Dawn Eidelman and Gene Eidelman. The Eidelmans had previously founded Prodigy Child Development Centers and Prodigy Consulting, an organization that operated child development and care centers in the Atlanta, Georgia area and for corporations across the United States including General Motors, IBM and Xerox.[3][4] Dr. Dawn Eidelman also formerly served as a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.[3] In September 1997, Mosaica opened its first charter school.[5] Lepercq Capital Management purchased a stake of the company in 1998.[6] Along with the investment, Michael Connelly, a former president of Lepercq, became Mosaica's chief executive officer.[7] The company received further funding from Murphy and Partners in 1999.[6]

In 2001, Mosaica acquired Advantage Schools, a Boston, Massachusetts-based education management organization.[5] The Qatari government contracted Mosaica to convert schools in Qatar to an American-style educational curriculum in 2003.[8] The contract was renewed in 2006.[8] By 2005, Mosaica was the fastest growing urban business in the country, according to Inc. Magazine.[9] The company operated 51 charter schools at the time.[9]

In 2004 and 2007, Mosaica was recognized as one of the Outstanding Charters Schools in America.[10][11] Mosaica was one of two education organizations to appear on the 2004 "Inc 5000" list.[12]

In 2006, Mosaica Education was selected by the government of Abu Dhabi as one of four private education firms to consult on 30 government schools in the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC).[13] The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program was considered successful in 2010 when ADEC reported that "there has been a considerable rise in student and teacher attendance and grades specifically in English, Math, and Arabic language skills."[14]

In 2006, Mosaica was paid $773,000 for the first year of a five-year management contract for the management of Lafayette Academy Charter School in New Orleans, Louisiana.[15] The organization was fired in 2007 by the school's governing board, which alleged that Mosaica failed to align its curriculum to Louisiana state standards, provide after-school programs for students that were below grade level, and organize transportation to and from the school.[15] The dispute between Mosaica and Lafayette Academy went into arbitration.[15] In September 2007, the arbitrator ruled Lafayette Academy would pay Mosaica $100,000 for early termination of the contract and Mosaica would return $350,000 in fees to the school.[15]

In 2009, Mosaica fired one school administrator and two teachers at Howard Road Academy, a charter school managed by the organization.[16] The administrator had leaked a copy of the DC-CAS standardized test to two teachers, who then distributed copies of the test to their students prior to the exam day.[16]

In 2010, the MAPSA (Michigan Association of Public School Academies) recognized Bingham Arts with the Charter School of Excellence Award for the state of Michigan.[17][18] The Columbus Preparatory Academy was recognized as a 'School of Excellence with Distinction' by the Ohio Department of Education in 2011.[19][20]

In 2012, a charter school managed by Mosaica Education received the Illinois State Board of Education's "Academic Improvement Award."[21] A charter school managed by Mosaica Education received the 2012 Colorado "Governors' Distinguished Improvement Award" for exceeding academic expectations.[22]

In April 2012, the Winston-Salem Journal reported that the STEAM Academy of Winston-Salem, North Carolina had faced declining revenue and poor academic performance for multiple years.[23] Mosaica took over management of the charter school in late 2011.[23] The STEAM Academy's board of directors hired Susan Willis to serve as the school's principal in December of that year.[23] Willis had been fired in 2009 from Fleming High School in Roanoke, Virginia for allegedly manipulating student schedules to influence the school's standardized testing scores.[23] Mosaica was aware of Willis' firing but felt that Willis was "cleared of any wrongdoing" after the company spoke to a former Roanoke school superintendent and consulted a dissenting opinion from the Virginia state investigation into Willis' conduct.[23]

Also in 2012, Mosaica was contracted to manage a charter district in Muskegon Heights, Michigan by Donald Weatherspoon, the emergency manager of the failing district.[24] Prior to contracting with Mosaica, Weatherspoon had fired the entire staff of the school district and reconstituted it as a charter district.[24] Mosaica had "three months to hire and train staff members, including those rehired from the old district, bring neglected facilities up to code, and persuade parents to keep their children enrolled."[24] The school's first principal quit within the first month of that school year and, within three months, a quarter of the teachers hired by Mosaica in the summer had left the district.[24] According to Education Week, "the largest single proportion [of teachers who left the district]—28 percent—cited the charter district's lack of participation in Michigan's public school employee retirement plan as the reason [for leaving]."[24]

In 2013, a charter school managed by Mosaica Education is recognized by the Ohio Department of Education as a "High Progress School of Honor."[25] As of 2013, Atlanta Preparatory Academy, a charter school managed by Mosaica, ranked in the bottom 20% of schools in Georgia based on standardized testing scores.[26] Atlanta Public Schools recommended that the Georgia Board of Education not renew the school's charter due to low standardized test scores.[26] The public school district was also concerned that the charter school's board lacked sufficient independence because it owed $801,384 to Mosaica.[26]