District officials, who presented the criteria at a public meeting at Benjamin Franklin High School yesterday, said their evaluation will cover only one year - though the groups were hired by the district in 2002.

"I'm struggling with that," said community activist Vernard Johnson.

The groups, called educational management organizations, should be judged on their performance over the last six years, he said. The two for-profit companies, two nonprofit organizations, and two universities have received more than $117 million from the district to operate the schools over that period.

Contracts for the groups - including the for-profit Edison Schools Inc., which runs 20 of the schools - are set to expire June 30.

"Obviously, we're a little disturbed by the notion that the clock sort of resets on the EMOs," said Helen Gym of Parents United for Public Education, who was among about 25 people who attended the session. "It disregards five years and $100 million of investments."

Edison Schools also complained about the criteria and the measurements.

"We think the evaluation is incomplete," said Todd McIntire, regional general manager for Edison.

Cassandra W. Jones, the district's interim chief academic officer, responded that although the contract period and evaluation was for one year, that did not preclude the School Reform Commission from looking at data from the previous five years.

An internal evaluation of the managers released last year recommended that 27 of 41 schools be taken away from the managers. That evaluation was based on analysis of standardized-test scores; interviews and phone surveys with parents, teachers and principals; and input at seven community meetings. It also considered other school data, including attendance, behavior and violence, and teacher training.

The groups had a five-year contract initially, and the commission last summer awarded each a one-year contract, saying more time for evaluation was needed.

Jones said the evaluation her team was conducting this year would look at data in six areas: test scores, promotion rates, student attendance, staff attendance, suspension rates and violent incidents. It also will evaluate strengths and weaknesses for each of the managers, she said.

At yesterday's meeting, one of two held this week, Jones presented a mid-year snapshot on how each of the six groups was progressing in four of the areas. (No data will be available on promotion rates and reading and math scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment until June.)

None was on target to meet the mark in all areas.

Foundations Inc., a nonprofit; Victory Schools, a for-profit, and Temple University did best on the snapshot that measured performance from September through February, with their schools meeting criteria in three of four areas. Universal Cos., a nonprofit, appeared to fare the worst. It was not on target in any area.

The other provider is the University of Pennsylvania, which met criteria in two areas.

McIntire said the evaluation should have included program implementation, staff training, community engagement and other areas. The mid-year snapshot from Jones showed that Edison was on target to meet the mark in raising student attendance, but fell short in the other areas.

McIntire noted that over five years, suspensions at Edison-run schools are down more than 30 percent and violent incidents down even more.

"I think things are going in the right direction," he said.