Other people involved were Tom Ingram (campaign manager and chief of staff to Lamar Alexander, who was a former Governor of Tennessee and United States Secretary of Education 1991–1993), Benno C. Schmidt, Jr., John Chubb (political scientist from the Hoover and Brookings Institutions), and Chester E. Finn, Jr. (assistant secretary of education to former presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush).

[citation needed] In 2002, the U.S. company approached the UK government and Essex Local Education Authority to develop a partnership.

The UK business contributed heavily to the parent company's intellectual property and was a base for global operations and educational projects in China and the UAE.

Edison attracted ideological support from backers of privatization and school vouchers, including The Wall Street Journal[5] and the Hoover Institution.

[8] (National Association of Head Teachers - a trade union and professional association representing more than 28,500 members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland), in partnership with EdisonLearningUK, developed the Aspire Pilot Programme for schools judged as Satisfactory or Requires Improvement by Ofsted.

[9] By 2014, EdisonLearning’s educational service offerings had moved well beyond the management of charter schools, to include virtual and blending learning, and dropout recovery and prevention centers.

Also in 2001, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged that Edison failed to disclose that as much as 41 percent of its revenue that year consisted of money that it never saw: $154 million.

[17] In 2011, former Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced that he was partnering with EdisonLearning to set up dropout prevention and recovery centers for high school-age students who have already left school or are at risk of leaving and want to earn a standard high school diploma.