Schoolkids aren’t the only ones in Philadelphia praying for a good report card this month. Last fall, with most of the city’s students testing well below state averages in reading and math, Philadelphia’s assertive new schools chief, Paul Vallas, handed over control of 45 of the city’s worst schools to seven private operators, including nonprofit organizations, universities and, most controversially, three for-profit companies. Now that the school year is ending, everyone is looking to see how the newcomers have done. Vallas has already given privatization a qualified endorsement by reaching agreements with six of the seven managers on contract terms for next year. This week a critical batch of test scores will provide the first hard data on how students have fared under privatization, a wrenching process that involved new principals, teaching methods, rules and expectations.

Read the rest by Rebecca Winters in Time Magazine.