The goal of this article is to move beyond the more traditional question, "Does business have a role in public education?" A historical overview of education suggests that the involvement of the private sector is not a new phenomenon and is not likely to end in the near future. Here, the authors argue that a much more fruitful line of inquiry is to examine how the characteristics of public education and privately managed education meet (or not) the unique needs of a highly vulnerable group--urban youth. They begin by providing a brief overview of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. Considering the impact of NCLB is critical, as it has facilitated the growth of education management organizations (EMOs) by introducing the notion of school choice in response to poor school test performance. Secondly, they discuss how privatization has been implemented and evaluated in Philadelphia under a diverse provider model. Next, they make a theoretically grounded case for reframing public and private education to focus more centrally on the affective development of teacher and students. With a parallel conceptual rationale, the authors conclude by making theoretically grounded recommendations for teacher preparation.