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Minnesota-students-win-awards-in-statewide-charter-writing-contest

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Jack Wickenhauser, De’shawnte Taylor, Vincent Smith Jr. and Denisse Sanchez are eloquent young people. They recently earned awards in a statewide Minnesota charter public school writing contest that attracted more than 2,200 entries.

Their essays answered the question, 'What was your best day in school?'

Whether you’re an educator or parent, I think you’ll learn a lot by asking youngsters this question at the end of the year.

Jack Wickenhauser, a seventh-grader at Cologne Academy, wrote that his best day “was every day since the end of February.” He started staying after school by choice to “help watch the little kids. … I mostly look after one kid who has ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) because I know what it’s like. I try to help him to do the best. … When I look in his eyes, I see a younger me.”

De’shawnte Taylor of Excell Academy in Brooklyn Park described the day an essay he wrote for the DARE program won a first place award. “My mom came to the school to watch our DARE graduation. I felt so happy when I first saw her. I gave her a huge hug. It was very special because it showed me that she cared about me.”

De’shawnte’s essay was a forceful reminder that some of the most important things families can do for their youngsters don’t involve spending money on them – showing up can make a huge difference.

Another powerful essay by a St. Paul second-grader contained a surprise. Vincent Smith Jr. believes his best day in school was when “I got suspended for punching a classmate. I had not been behaving well in school. I have been rude. I have been talking and fighting instead of working.”

He continued, “Getting suspended got me thinking. My dad is in prison, but he often calls me. He is good, but he did something bad. I figured I was the same. I am good, but I do bad things. Being bad is not cool. The day I got suspended was my best day because it helped me change. Now I stay away from trouble. … It feels great to be a leader and not a follower.”

Writing contest winner Vincent Smith Jr. (second grade), who attends Urban Academy charter school in St. Paul, is shown with Sen. Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul. (Photo submitted)

Wah Nay Moo, a sixth-grader at the College Prep Elementary in St. Paul earned top honors in her division. She described the first day she attended the school in September 2011. “Prior to this day, I had never attended school in America. I had my first experience learning with materials that were in good shape, unlike my school materials in Thailand that were over 30 years old.”

Finally, Denisse Sanchez, a Minneapolis 10th-grader earned first place among high school students. Formerly, “I hated school and that I had all F’s.” Then she and her English class read an essay by James Baldwin. It reminded her that “My mom and dad never finished high school and now are living the life of poverty. … I want something better and bigger in life. … The only way to do that is to get my education.”

Writing contest winner Denisse Sanchez (tenth grade), who attends Minnesota Transitions Charter High School, shown with Cindy Murphy, the Minn. Department of Education State Project Director for Charter Public Schools.

TCF Foundation cosponsored the writing contest and provided cash awards for the best essays. To see humor, honesty, insight and courage, read the winning essays here.

This Joe Nathan Column originally ran on HometownSource on May 15, 2013. Joe Nathan, formerly a Minnesota public school teacher and administrator, directs the Center for School Change.
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New-Analysis-Indicates-that-Public-Charter-Schools-Do-Not-Lead-to-Increased-Segregation

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

In a recent piece on the Brookings Institute blog, Matthew Chingos explored the question ‘Does Expanding School Choice Increase Segregation?’ Through analysis of nine years of data from the Common Core of Data (CCD), the federal government’s annual census of all public schools, Chingos delves into the demographic characteristics of charter school students and their counterparts in traditional public schools, which is often cited by public charter school critics as evidence that choice leads to segregation (even though previous research has indicated that public charter schools often match the demographics of the local traditional public schools).

For each of the more than 3,000 counties in the U.S., Chingos calculated an “exposure index” (measures the portion of non-minority students at the schools attended by the average under-represented minority student over time), “dissimilarity index” (an alternative measure of segregation), and panel data analysis that uses all nine years of CCD to estimate the relationship between charter enrollment and segregation using only the changes within counties over time. The results of all three measures consistently indicated no meaningful relationship between school choice and segregation. As Chingos summarizes, “the findings reported here indicate that it is unlikely that charter schools—a prominent effort to increase school choice, especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds—are making the problem worse.”

NAPCS noted in an issue brief released last year that one of the most exceptional developments within the first two decades of the public charter school movement has been the rise of high performing public charter schools with missions intently focused on educating students from traditionally underserved communities. Given that the demographics of these communities are often homogenous, it is no surprise the demographics of these schools are that way as well. In fact, the student populations at these public charter schools usually mirror the populations in nearby district schools.

While much media attention rightly has been given to these schools, the past decade or so also has seen a noteworthy rise in high performing public charter schools with missions intentionally designed to serve racially and economically integrated student populations. These schools are utilizing their autonomy to achieve a diverse student population through location-based strategies, recruitment efforts and enrollment processes.

Perhaps most notably, a growing number of cities—and the parents and educators in them—are welcoming both types of public charter school models for their respective (and in some cases unprecedented) contributions to raising student achievement, particularly for students who have previously struggled in school. Chingos’s analyses add to the evidence that the public school choice allows parents of choose the school environment that suits their student’s needs and is not a primary contributing factor to school (re)segregation.
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National-Charter-Schools-Week-2013-Highlights

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

During this year’s National Charter Schools Week (NCSW), NAPCS hosted 16 of our key state association leaders (from AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, IL, IN, MD, MA, MI, NJ, OH, SC, and TX) in Washington, D.C. to advocate for greater support for public charter schools.

Our goal was to both influence the discussions around the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by focusing on ways within the statute to enhance charter school quality and to ask for greater funding for charter schools – to support the creation of new schools and replicating effective models.

NCSW highlights included:

Charter Champions Award Reception: The reception honored the leadership of this year’s Charter Champions: House Education and Workforce Chairman John Kline (R-MN), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mississippi Lt. Governor Tate Reeves, Mississippi State Senator Gray Tollison, and Nashville Mayor Karl Dean. We were also joined by many Members of Congress, including House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN), Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rep. Greg Harper (R-MS), Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-MS), and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ).

U.S. Rep. Hoyer, Nashville Mayor Dean, and U.S. Rep. Kline at the Charter Champions reception

NAPCS President Nina Rees presents Charter Champion award to Miss. Sen. Gray Tollison

Meeting with Senator Durbin (D-IL): Because the Senator could not attend our reception in person, Andrew Broy, President of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, presented the Senator with the Charter Champion award in the Senator’s Capitol office and spent time discussing the state of the movement in Illinois, with a particular focus on the Senator’s interest in East St. Louis and North Chicago.

Illinois Network of Charter Schools President Andrew Broy presents Senator Durbin with his Charter Champion Award

Meeting with Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA): Tony Roberts, President of the Georgia Charter Schools Association, met with Rep. Kingston, who is the Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education and gave him an update on the high level of demand for charter schools in the wake of the passage of Georgia’s Constitutional amendment.

Georgia Charter Schools Association President Tony Roberts and U.S. Rep. Kingston

Meeting with Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO): Congressman Polis met with state leaders and NAPCS staff to discuss his All-Star Act, which will make improvements to the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP).

Congressmen Polis and Kline at the Charter Champions reception

Meeting with Nadya Dabby, Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education: The meeting was both informative about the Department’s priorities, and allowed for state leaders to articulate their priorities for the CSP and its administration.

Finally, there were a number of meetings with Congressional staff who will play an instrumental role in the writing of ESEA. State leaders met with staff representing: House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH); House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Kline (R-MN); Senior Democrat, Rep. George Miller (D-CA); Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA); Ranking Member Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN); and Chairman Harkin’s Appropriations staff.

Katherine Haley with Speaker Boehner’s office meeting with state leaders

In addition, the NAPCS State Leaders Council members met with a dozen more offices from their state delegations, updating members of Congress and their staffs about the charter school movements in their respective states and districts, and the importance of increasing funding for the federal CSP.

We look forward to building on the NCSW momentum as we gather in Washington, D.C. again in July for the National Charter Schools Conference!

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“New Poll: Moms Prefer More School Choice,” NAPCS data cited, North American Press Syndicate, May 16
“Broad Foundation Names Three Finalists for Charter Schools Prize,” NAPCS National Charter Schools Conference cited, Education Week’s District Dossier blog, May 15
“Georgia Charters Create Alternative Teacher Pipeline,” Lisa Grover (Sr. Director of State Services) quoted, Heartland, May 10

News to Know

“Texas House Votes to Lift Cap on Charter Schools,” Houston Chronicle, May 17
“The Bronx Is Burning — With Charter School Applications,” New York Daily News, May 16
“Charter School Caps Looking for Big Lift in Texas, Massachusetts,” Education Week’s State EdWatch blog, May 15
“Minneapolis Charters Inspire Change in School System,” Minnesota Public Radio, May 14
“Illinois Charter Commission to Decide Virtual School Appeal,” Daily Herald, May 13

Audience Favorites

Facebook—While charter schools are only 6% of all public schools, they're prevalent on the U.S. News & World Report, Washington Post, and Newsweek annual rankings of public high schools across the nation. Click the link to see if your public charter school made the top 100 on one or more of these rankings lists. http://www.publiccharters.org/Blog/Default.aspx?id=419

Twitter—@charteralliance: Tour of @phoenixcharter serving challenged adolescents. What's fair accountability for "alternative" schls? #NCSC13 bit.ly/15NwOSF

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Charter-School-Research:-What-Do-We-Know,-Where-Are-the-Gaps,-and-What-Should-Be-the-Focus003F

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

While the emerging story from recent research on student outcomes in public charter schools indicates largely positive impacts on students, there are many areas of further research needed to better understand the instructional, governance, operational , and policy conditions that contribute to why some public charters create better opportunities for learning than others. To inspire new research, NAPCS organized a session at the recent American Educational Research Association (AERA) conference to review the empirical research on public charter schools, identify gaps in the research base that warrant further investigation, discuss available data resources for pursuing new strands of charter school research, and propose priority areas for new research. The session brought together prominent researchers with diverse perspectives in the field of charter school research.

Penny Wohlstetter, Joanna Smith, and Caitlin Farrell kicked of the session by presenting central findings from their new book, Choices & Challenges, a comprehensive review of charter school research. The table below summarizes the focus of existing research and shows that several of the most critical areas for evaluating charter success (governance, school leadership, authorizing, and charter school finances) have received less attention from researchers.

Source: Wohlstetter, Priscilla, Joanna Smith, & Caitlin C. Farrell. (2013). Choices & Challenges: Charter School Performance in Perspective. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

After discussing the holes in existing research, the session shifted to several publicly available data resources that researchers could use to expand the scope of research on charter schools. Jack Buckley, Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, presented data available from the U.S. Department of Education, including EdFacts, NAEP, the Common Core of Data, the Schools and Staffing Survey, Civil Rights Data Collection, and several longitudinal surveys (ELS, HSLS, ECLS, and NHES). Joni Pearlman discussed the National Charter School Resource Center’s National Authorizer - Charter School Catalog. I presented on NAPCS’ Public Charter School Dashboard and the Model Law Rankings Database. And finally, Gary Miron presented information on his annual report, Profiles of For-Profit and Nonprofit Education Management Organizations.

Tricia Maas (Center for Reinventing Public Education) concluded the conversation by presenting a proposed research agenda with suggestions for prioritizing new research on charter schools based on the identified gaps and available resources.

Overall, the session had great attendance and a healthy question and answer portion at the end. I am hopeful that the session will inspire researchers to tackle pending research questions and present at next year’s AERA conference.

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Phoenix-Charter-Academy's-Alternative-School-Model-Meets-Student-Needs-and-Fosters-Academic-Success

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Being involved in charter schools at the policy level, it sometimes becomes all about the data—how many charters are on the U.S. News Best High Schools list; the number of students on waitlists; the ratio of English Language Learners as compared to their district counterparts. The numbers are without question important, but visiting a school in person can remind you that behind all these numbers are people.

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of visiting Phoenix Charter Academy in Chelsea, MA. At the school door I was greeted by Rosa, a student who gave me a tour. Rosa proudly told me that she is going to University of Massachusetts, Boston campus for college next year. As we walked through the school, she told us about how every student receives an hour of tutoring every day to help prepare for the MCAS, the state standardized test.

She pointed out the signs on students’ lockers, wishing them luck on the test. She pointed to pictures of former students on the walls—if they made it through graduation, then she can too. These photos inspired her, and reassured her that she could get through this.

As we walked through the building she pointed out various classrooms—science, math, humanities—and we paused at a door. The instant it opened, a head popped up from behind a bookshelf. “Mama!” The little girl ran straight towards Rosa, reaching out. Rosa held out a hand and gave those tiny fingers a hard squeeze. “Welcome to our nursery.”

Phoenix is outside of the norm even for a public charter school. Considered an “alternative” school, it focuses largely on students who have been unable to succeed in any other kind of academic setting. Their students range in age from 14 to 22 and generally have very little support at home.

Every student who walks through their doors receives an individual course plan. There are no class cohorts, no sophomores or juniors. You’re given a personalized route to graduate high school that isn’t a set time period, but instead lastas as long as it will take you to master the material. If you come in needing remedial math or if English isn’t your first language, you spend some extra time in the introductory classes. If you’ve already had a few years of high school, maybe you can skip ahead to some of the second or third level courses. Only once you reach the last year of your program can you proudly bear the title of “Senior.” Everyone is expected to graduate at their own pace, once they demonstrate knowledge mastery.

This comes with a lot of challenges. It takes resources for teachers to design such an individualized plan for every student. Classroom management can be even more difficult when the students are nearly ten years apart in age. However long it takes, and no matter how many times the students may drop out again, a remarkable number make it to graduation day. Considering that the district had given up on that dream long ago, this is truly an amazing school.

Rosa had her child three years ago, and had been attending the district school. Faced with the challenges of teen pregnancy, she eventually moved over to Phoenix. It’s clear that the nursery has been a huge help to her—her daughter had a half-dozen playmates, and the infants were sleeping in the room next door. She’s taking AP Physics, chemistry, and pre-calculus. As she said “the support is incredible.” Phoenix takes pride in providing help to the students, no matter what kind they need—academic or personal.

How do you compare Phoenix to a regular district school? Last fall, I saw a fantastic school leader talk about how her school had to be reborn as a public charter because the district thought that since her school’s pregnant teenagers weren’t graduating high school in four years, they were failing. These alternative schools are being held to the same accountability standards as their district counterparts. It’s a travesty to assume that since these students can’t graduate at the same rate as their less challenged peers, they won’t ever succeed. Schools like Phoenix insist that no matter what, they won’t give up.

We need a serious conversation on alternative schools and how we can fairly hold them accountable. They have high expectations for their students, and are getting students into college who would have otherwise been considered lucky to get a GED. This is why, at the National Charter Schools Conference, we’re hosting a preconference conversation on the subject. Please come join us for this—we need all our minds working together to figure out the best solutions to these policy challenges. If you’re already signed up for the conference, you can register for the preconference through our reaccess site. For those who still need to sign up, it is an option during the registration process.

This school might not be hitting AYP every year, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t creating amazing opportunities that didn’t exist before for these students.

This Sunday, Rosa celebrated Mother’s Day with her husband and daughter. On Monday, her husband headed off to work and she went to take her AP Physics exam. Thank you Phoenix, for introducing me to her, and to Rosa, if you’re reading this—I hope you scored high!
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Public-Charter-Schools-Rank-Among-Top-Public-High-Schools-in-the-Nation

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The rankings are in! Every year, U.S. News & World Report, the Washington Post, and Newsweek rank public high schools across the nation. Despite public charter schools making up only 6 percent of public high schools nationwide, they have been historically well represented on these lists, and 2013 is no exception.

The table below presents the public charter schools that were ranked in the top 100 on at least one of the lists, as well as the public charter schools ranked in Newsweek’s top 25 Transformative Schools list. Five public charter schools were listed in the top 100 on the three major lists: Peak to Peak Charter School, Signature School Incorporated, Uplift Education – North Hills Preparatory High School, Westlake Academy, and the American Indian Public High School, which was also ranked as the second best Transformative School in the nation.

The U.S. News & World Report’s Best High Schools list had 28 public charter schools in the top 100, up from 17 last year. The report also ranked three public charters in the top 10. The Washington Post’s Most Challenging High Schools list also put 28 public charter schools in their top 100, and four in their top 10. In Newsweek’s America’s Best high Schools list, there were 13 public charter schools in the top 100, with two BASIS charter schools reaching their top 10.

Newsweek also came out with their Transformative High Schools list, which takes students’ socioeconomic status into account by looking at schools that serve a high percentage of students who receive free- or reduced-price lunches. Sixteen public charter schools were on the list, making up 64 percent of the nation’s top 25 Transformative schools. All top five schools were public charter schools.

School Name	State	U.S. News & World Report, Best High Schools	Washington Post, High School Challenge Index	Newsweek, America’s Best High Schools	Newsweek, 25 Transformative High Schools
Haas Hall Academy	AR			83
BASIS Scottsdale	AZ	5		3
BASIS Tucson	AZ	2
BASIS Tucson North	AZ			7
Northland Preparatory Academy	AZ	77
Sonoran Science Academy - Davis Monthan	AZ	53
Sonoran Science Academy - Tucson	AZ		96
Alliance Dr. Olga Mohan High	CA	95			4
Alliance Gertz-Ressler High	CA				6
Alliance Huntington Park College-Ready Academy High	CA				10
Alliance Marc & Eva Stern Math and Science	CA				23
American Indian Public High	CA	38	1	11	2
Animo Jackie Robinson High	CA				21
Animo Leadership High	CA				13
Animo Oscar De La Hoya Charter High	CA				11
Animo Pat Brown	CA				18
Hawthorne Math and Science Academy	CA	89
Lennox Mathematics, Science and Technology Academy	CA	39
Magnolia Science Academy	CA		45
Northcoast Preparatory and Performing Arts Academy	CA	72	25
Pacific Collegiate Charter	CA	11	56
Preuss School UCSD	CA	30	29		1
Summit Preparatory Charter High	CA	82
University High	CA	42
Peak to Peak Charter School	CO	58	70	49
Charter School of Wilmington	DE			62
Archimedean Upper Conservatory Charter School	FL		26	54
Doral Performing Arts and Entertainment Academy	FL		86
International Studies Charter High School	FL	15
Somerset Academy Charter High School	FL				7
Gwinnett Charter School of Advanced Mathematics, Science, & Technology	GA	3	10
Coeur D'Alene Charter Academy	ID		59	89
Noble Network of Charter Schools - Noble Street College Prep	IL				15
Signature School Inc	IN	23	8	12
Benjamin Franklin High School	LA	55
Sturgis Charter Public	MA	31	64
Raleigh Charter High School	NC		77	40
Albuquerque Institute of Math & Science	NM		42
Harding Charter Preparatory High School	OK		75
Corbett Charter School	OR	70	4
Early College H S	TX	97
Eastwood Academy	TX	56	50
Harmony Science Acad (El Paso)	TX		71
Harmony Science Academy - North Austin	TX		46
IDEA Frontier College Preparatory	TX	60
IDEA Quest College Preparatory	TX	83
KIPP Houston H S	TX	65
Uplift Education - North Hills Preparatory High School	TX	51	82	41
Uplift Education - Peak Preparatory High School	TX		24		5
Uplift Education - Summit International Preparatory	TX		23	51	14
Uplift Education - Williams Preparatory High School	TX		28		3
Westlake Academy	TX	41	20	52
YES Prep - East End Campus	TX		18
YES Prep - North Central Campus	TX	46	89		17
YES Prep - Southwest Campus	TX	66	83

Methodology

The U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools list evaluates over 21,000 public high schools in the country. Their ranking is based on students’ performance on state-mandated assessments, minority and economically disadvantaged student performance, and Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) exam results to determine preparedness for college-level work.

The Washington Post’s Challenge Index is calculated by the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) tests given at a school in 2012, divided by the number of graduates that year. Also included are the percentage of students who come from families that qualify for lunch subsidies and the percentage of graduates who passed at least one college-level test during their high school career, indicators called equity and excellence for the Challenge Index.

Newsweek's America’s Best High Schools ranks schools based on six components: graduation rate (25 percent), college acceptance rate (25 percent), AP/IB/AICE tests taken per student (25 percent), average SAT/ACT scores (10 percent), average AP/IB/AICE scores (10 percent), and percent of students enrolled in at least one AP/IB/AICE course (5 percent). Their ranking system focuses on high schools that have proven to be the most effective in turning out college-ready grads.

Newsweek’s Transformative Schools ranking used the Newsweek's America's Best High Schools score and multiplied it by the percentage of students who are eligible for free- or reduced-price lunches, a leading indicator of socioeconomic status. The overall ranking for each school is based on the graduation rate, college-bound rate of grads, AP participation, and test scores.

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More-than-700-Texas-Charter-School-Parents,-Students,-Teachers-and-Charter-Leaders-call-for-passage-of-strong-charter-legislation-at-TCSA-Rally-at-the-South-Steps-of-the-Texas-State-Capitol

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

During National Charter Schools Week and in the final 20 days of the 83rd Legislature, the Texas Charter Schools Association welcomed to Austin more than 700 parents, students, teachers and charter leaders from across Texas to rally on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol to show their strong support for public charter schools and charter legislation this session. On that same day, the TCSA’s first charter bill, SB 1538, which helps to accurately measure drop out recovery charters and traditional public schools, passed and is headed to the Governor’s desk.

TCSA executive director David Dunn praised all the charter school parents, like our two parents from Dallas and Austin who spoke at the rally, students, teachers and leaders across the state, who are working this session with the Texas House and Senate to pass legislation that will strengthen and support effective charter schools in Texas, lift the arbitrary cap on charter schools, and more accurately measure drop out recovery schools and the work they do with students returning to high school to recover credits and graduate.

He also thanked our Legislators for leaving the House and Senate chambers and addressing charter parents and supporters at the rally. During the rally, we cheered and thanked them for their support and for all the hard work they are doing this session to pass good and needed charter legislation.

Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst addressed the rally participants as well as Senate Education Chairman Dan Patrick, House Public Education Committee member and Representative Marsha Farney and Representative Diane Patrick. During National Charter Schools Week, public charter school parents, leaders and supporters traveled from Houston, San Antonio, San Marcos, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Angelo and locally from Austin, Tex., to rally for legislation that helps their children and strengthens overall charter school policy to benefit all charter schools statewide.

We began the day with lunch on the Capitol grounds, and then TCSA led a supporter march from 11th and Congress up to the Capitol south steps, chanting our support for public charter schools and options for parents and students. We rallied at the south steps and then entered the Senate gallery to watch the Senators in action. Senator Dan Patrick, chairman of the Senate Education committee, recognized our charter parents, students, teachers and leaders in the gallery and we stood to applaud and wave. Rally participants ended their day at the Texas Capitol by visiting their district House rep and asking for support on TCSA’s list of charter bills.

All of the rally participants represent more than 154,000 students on 500-plus open-enrollment charter school campuses across the state, and equally as important, the larger-than-expected crowd represents the more than 101,000 students on waiting lists for a spot at a charter school. The Texas Charter Schools Association is the statewide association representing open-enrollment charter schools in every part of our great state of Texas, and we continue to advocate for quality charter schools and state policy that will create an environment for more charter growth, more innovation and more options for parents and students in Texas.

Public charter schools are making a difference for students in Texas.

In 2011 (the last year of rankings in Texas), in public charter schools rated under Texas' Standard Accountability System, higher percentages of African-American and Hispanic students passed the TAKS test in every core subject area than in traditional public schools.
According to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts in her annual Financial Allocation Study for Texas (FAST), Texas charter schools account for nearly 30% of the state's most fiscally efficient public schools, even though they represent only 3% of the student population.
Texas public charter schools, as a percentage, serve more African-American students, more Hispanic students, more economically disadvantaged students and more at risk students than traditional public schools. Public charter schools serve only slightly fewer limited English proficient and special education students, as a percentage, than traditional public schools.
U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools Rankings: 8 out of the top 20 in Texas are public charter schools.

Image via Austin American-Statesman: Texas Senate Education Committee Chairman Dan Patrick speaks at TCSA rally

Image via Austin American-Statesman

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MAPSA’s-Documentary-About-Jalen-Rose’s-Charter-School-Promotes-an-Important-Conversation

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

What should a parent do when they feel their current school is not working for their child? And how do we create the quality schools they deserve?

That was the focus as the Michigan Association of Public School Academies had an exciting event this week to kick off National Charter Schools Week – the premiere of an original documentary we produced on the first year of the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy in Detroit. The full-length documentary was called “Creating Hope: A Year in the Life of a New Charter School,” and it was written and directed by MAPSA’s Emmy-nominated Vice President of Communications, Buddy Moorehouse.

For those who might not be basketball fans, Jalen Rose was a member of the University of Michigan’s fabled Fab Five team from the early 1990s. He later went on to a long career in the NBA, and currently works as a basketball analyst for ESPN and NBC. He’s obviously gone on to great success and fame in his life, and people like that often forget where they came from.

Not Jalen Rose. The state of public education in his hometown, Detroit, has always troubled him, so a few years back, he decided to do something about it. He founded a charter high school on the city’s northwest side called the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy. The school would teach leadership and responsibility along with the academic subjects, and it would feature an extended school day and school year – 211 days in all.

The school opened in 2011, and MAPSA’s documentary project began at that time. We decided to tell the story of the school through the eyes of one student and her family. Unique Bailey’s family enrolled her at the school in 2011 because they felt the local school district wasn’t meeting the needs of their daughter. Unique was a very bright girl, but she was getting lost in her old school district. Her parents wanted more for her. They wanted hope. They found it at the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy.

The documentary project consumed nearly a full year, as we followed Unique and her classmates all the way to the last day of classes on Aug. 3, 2012. Editing on the film began soon after that, and the premiere took place at the start of National Charter Schools Week on Monday evening, May 6, at the Detroit Institute of Arts. We had a dream audience in attendance – a who’s who of Michigan’s business, philanthropic, educational, media and community leaders.

The main intent of the documentary was to start a conversation that needs to take place now in our state, and our country. Specifically, what does a parent do when they feel trapped in a school that isn’t meeting the needs of their child? And how do we create the schools they deserve? We saw that question come to life through the eyes of Unique Bailey and her family.

This was a film about a charter school, but in the same way, it was not a film about a charter school. Because the challenges faced by the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy are the same challenges that every public school in our state faces – creating a school that meets the needs of the student. As we pointed out on Monday night, we don’t need good schools in our state – we need GREAT schools in our state.

An important step in that process is defining the challenges and starting a conversation. That was the intent of our documentary, and we’re heartened that we were able to start this conversation during National Charter Schools Week. We had a panel discussion following the film that featured myself along with educators, legislators, media members, parents – and a former basketball star who was willing to roll up his sleeves to get his hands dirty, to help make a difference in his hometown.

Jalen Rose isn’t used to sitting on the sidelines when the game isn’t going well. We need more people like him if we’re going to create more excellent schools.

We’re going to be showing the documentary to more people in more places around Michigan, because we feel it’s an effective way to illustrate the challenges and get the discussion moving.

The film ends with Unique Bailey’s mother, Tanisha Bailey, saying, “I can’t fail Unique. I cannot. I cannot fail her.”

Mrs. Bailey, you’re right. You can’t fail Unique. And neither can we. The success of our state, and our country, depends on the success of our students.

We can’t fail them.

Dan Quisenberry is the President of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, the state’s united voice for charter schools.

Photo: From left, charter school founder Jalen Rose, MAPSA President Dan Quisenberry, Michigan Senate Education Committee Chairman Phil Pavlov and JRLA Superintendent Joe Tenbusch participate in a panel discussion following the premiere of “Creating Hope.”

Click here for more information.

Media-Round-Up

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Huntington Learning Center Honors Charter Schools During National Charter Schools Week,” NAPCS National Charter School Week activities cited in Market Watch, May 9
“Texas charter school waitlist numbers remain fluid,” NAPCS national waitlist data cited in KHOU, May 9
“State leaders honored for charter school measure,” NAPCS Charter Champions award cited in WTVA, May 8

News to Know

“Maine Governor Proposes Lifting Cap on Charters,” Bangor Daily News, May 10
“Texas State Senator Tells Rally Charter School Bill Will Pass,” Houston Chronicle, May 9
“Op-ed: Celebrating Charter School Successes: This Week and Every Week,” Hill op-ed, May 8
“President Obama Proclaims National Charter Schools Week,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 7
“Charter Schools Pioneer to Visit Maine,” Boston Globe, May 6

Audience Favorites

Facebook— Welcome to National Charter Schools Week 2013! Please share your photos and stories during NCSW--which gives us, as a community, the opportunity to highlight and share in our successes, lessons learned, and raise awareness of what public charter schools can offer.

Twitter—@charteralliance: Public Charter Schools are 5.8% of all public schools & 13% of @Newsweek's top 100 #BestHighSchools bit.ly/16kgNTw #NCSW #edreform

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

Click here for more information.

CRPE-Releases-New-Report-on-Emerging-Topics-in-Public-Charter-School-Sector

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Today, the Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) released the seventh edition of Hopes, Fears, & Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charter Schools (HFR). The HFR report series consistently provides interesting research and commentary on emerging topics in the public charter school sector. Past HFR reports have focused on collaboration efforts between traditional school districts and charter schools (2011) and lessons that can be learned from high-performing charter schools (2009). Framed within the context of the public charter sector at 20 years, growing political support for public charter schools, and tight fiscal conditions, this year’s HFR explores the themes of growth and innovation.

The report includes four essays on the following topics:

Suburban Charter Schools | Jeffrey Henig (Teachers College): “Despite highly publicized instances of inroads into more affluent communities, the center of gravity in the charter school movement remains with minority and low-income populations. Although there are no signs that the center of gravity will move significantly, it is good to be alert to the possibility and begin considering what the implications might be if this were to occur. Market demand is subject to shifts as charters become more familiar and information about them becomes more detailed and better understood. Big changes have already occurred on the supply side, and the growth of larger networks of providers is likely to introduce a range of other changes, including in target audiences. But the greatest volatility may come from the interaction between market forces and the political and policy parameters within which markets operate. These have the potential to shift demand and supply, as well as how they are expressed. And they are susceptible to sharp change.”
Charter School Incubators | Ethan Gray (CEE-Trust): “Those who frequent education reform conferences often hear how much leaders in city X want to recruit KIPP to their city or funders in city Y want to invest in a replication of YES Prep (in Houston) in their city. But the reality is that for most cities, a CMO replication strategy is unlikely to either be successful or meet the demand in their communities for high-quality seats. Simply put, it is challenging to recruit national CMOs to new markets, and there are far too few CMOs to meet the growing demand. As a result, some enterprising cities have embraced a new strategy for intentionally building the supply of high-quality new schools: charter school incubation.”
Blended Learning | Michael Horn (Innosight Institute) & Tricia Maas (CRPE): “For years, technology was largely missing from charter schools.... In the last few years, however, that has begun to change. New entrants in the charter school scene are pioneering blended-learning solutions, producing great student results, and looking to scale.”
Staffing Models and Budget Implications for Blended Learning | Suzanne Simburg (CRPE) & Marguerite Roza (CRPE): “Some new school designs suggest that we can fundamentally alter the basic schooling model so that a given number of students can be taught—and taught well—by fewer teachers, who are leveraged in new ways. Although some tasks require new technology and thus new technology staff, these new school designs are just as much staffing innovations as technological innovations.”

Collectively, the essays touch on the fact that the public charter sector is both maturing and constantly changing as schools determine the most effective strategies to offer quality educational learning opportunities for students.

Click here for more information.

Public-Charter-Schools-Represented-on-Newsweek's-Best-and-Transformative-High-School-Rankings

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Newsweek has released its 2013 America’s Best High Schools rankings of the 2,000 best public high schools in the nation—and 13 public charter schools are among the top 100. Two BASIS schools are in the top 10 (BASIS Scottsdale #3 and BASIS Tucson North #7), which has been the trend.

Newsweek defines “Best” as high schools that have proven to be the most effective in turning out college-ready grads. The list is based on six components: graduation rate (25 percent), college acceptance rate (25 percent), AP/IB/AICE tests taken per student (25 percent), average SAT/ACT scores (10 percent), average AP/IB/AICE scores (10 percent), and percent of students enrolled in at least one AP/IB/AICE course (5 percent).

Newsweek conducts further breakouts of its Best High Schools, including the “Transformative High Schools” list that factors in the percentage of students who are eligible for free- or reduced-price lunches, a leading indicator of socioeconomic status. Sixteen public charter schools, which is 64 percent of the list, earned the “Transformative” distinction. Public charter schools also held all of the top 5 rankings, and were 80 percent of the top 10 Transformative schools.

The number of public charter schools among those named as the 25 “Transformative High Schools” has grown over the past several years:

2011: 5 public charter schools
2012: 15 public charter schools
2013: 16 public charter schools

Congratulations to these public charter schools, recognized as the best in the nation for college-readiness and closing the achievement gap.

Graduates of the Preuss School UCSD, the #1 ranked “Transformative High School.” Image via The Daily Beast website.

Click here for more information.

Nashville-Mayor-Honored-as-2013-Charter-Champion

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Throughout National Charter Schools Week, the Charter Blog will announce the 2013 Charter Champions! This year’s Charter Champion awards recognize five outstanding public officials for their service to the students and parents of the public charter school movement.

Given annually during National Charter Schools Week, the Charter Champion awards are presented to the very top federal, state, and local public officials who lead the most impactful public charter school initiatives, who serve as the most visible charter school advocates and who—throughout their career in public service—have tirelessly supported charters as a high-quality public school option.

This year’s local Charter Champion is Mayor Karl Dean of Nashville, TN.

Mayor Karl Dean (Nashville, TN)
Karl Dean is the sixth mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. He was first elected in September 2007 and re-elected in August 2011. As part of his agenda for strengthening public education in Nashville, Mayor Karl Dean has been an active supporter of creating more high-quality public charter schools for the city's families. He has recruited successful charter school operators from across the country to come to Nashville and was instrumental in the creation of the Tennessee Charter School Incubator, the first state-wide charter school incubator in the country. He has also championed improvements to the state's charter school law to make the environment in Nashville more supportive of high-quality charters.

“We have several excellent public charter schools in Nashville where students are being given the tools to write their own destinies, irrespective of zip codes or family circumstances,” Mayor Dean said. “That is one of a city’s most important responsibilities to its young citizens, and I am proud to play a role in helping make that happen. Quality charter schools can – and should – play a big role in reforming our education system and in providing our students with the excellent education they deserve.”

Click here for more information.

Public-Charter-School-Community-Heard-During-INCS'-"Have-Your-Say-Day"

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS) is delighted to spread the word about our successful INCS 8th Annual Lobby Day in Springfield this past Thursday, just ahead of National School Choice Week. We had over 500 parents, teachers, and students travel to Springfield to join forces and advocate for equal funding for charter public school students. Together, we made great progress:

We put the final nail in the coffin of House Bill 2660, a proposal designed to starve funding for state-approved charter schools.
We built momentum in support of SJR 33, a joint resolution to establish a 6-month charter school funding task force to recommend equity legislation for the 2014 legislative session.
We explained to elected officials the critical role charter schools play in creating educational opportunities statewide and why charter school parents deserve to be heard.

This year our theme was Have Your Say Day, and that’s exactly what parents and students did. We started with an early morning rally at Perspectives/IIT Math & Science Academy on the South Side, followed with a Springfield kick-off rally in the rotunda of the Illinois Capitol, and culminated with dozens of visits with elected officials representing districts where charter schools and parents reside.

The value of the INCS Lobby Day goes beyond the critical personal connections and myth-busting that occur in every legislative meeting. The day is also about inspiring participants who are on the front lines of the charter movement every day. As Lobby Day participant and charter school alumna Dennise Medina put it, “I just wanted my voice to be heard. Meeting Representative Silvana Tabares was a great honor, as was sharing my story as an UNO Rufino Tamayo charter school graduate. Thanks to charter schools, I am what I am today: a successful college student.”

Our work doesn’t end here. Over the next few months we will continue our efforts to engage parents and empower them in leadership roles. Most critically, we are back in Springfield already with a group of parents from Catalyst Charter School continuing the smaller group visits that we’re conducting throughout the legislative session with targeted officials. Lobby Day is a critical event, but nothing is more important than a continuing, consistent presence with elected officials. We will continue to fight until the law treats all Illinois public school students equally.

Click here for more information.

Mississippi-Officials-Named-2013-Charter-Champions

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Given annually during National Charter Schools Week, the Charter Champion awards are presented to the very top federal, state and local public officials who lead the most impactful public charter school initiatives, who serve as the most visible charter school advocates and who—throughout their career in public service—have tirelessly supported charters as a high-quality public school option.

This year’s state Charter Champions are Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves (MS) and State Senator Gray Tollison (MS).

Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves (MS)
Elected in 2011 as Mississippi's Lieutenant Governor, Tate Reeves leads the 52-member state Senate. Lieutenant Governor Reeves made it a priority to enact legislation to improve the state's public charter school law. Through numerous speeches, op-eds and interviews, he made the case to the state's citizens about why Mississippi's students needed to have the option of attending high-quality public charter schools. In the 2012 and 2013 legislative sessions, he fought hard for major changes to Mississippi's charter school law, as evidenced by the fact that the Senate passed several charter school bills during this time period. Those efforts paid off when Mississippi enacted sweeping reforms to its charter school law in April 2013. These reforms would not have happened without the strong leadership of Lieutenant Governor Reeves.

"I thank the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools for this honor and their support in our efforts to provide school choice,” said Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves. “I truly believe that improving the educational attainment level of our citizens is fundamental to improving our economy. Every child in Mississippi deserves an opportunity for success, and public charter schools are an essential ingredient to achieving that goal.”

State Senator Gray Tollison (MS)
State Senator Gray Tollison is a member of the Mississippi Senate, representing District 9 since 1996. In January 2012, Tollison was appointed Chairman of the Senate Education Committee. Senator Tollison has been a strong supporter of public charter schools throughout his time in the Mississippi Senate and has sponsored several charter school bills over the course of his tenure. In the 2012 and 2013 legislative sessions, he served as the primary sponsor of the major charter school bills passed by the Senate. He was a passionate and forceful advocate for charter schools during the floor debates on these bills and worked with his colleagues in the House and the Senate to pass a bill to make major improvements to Mississippi's charter school law in April 2013.

"Public charters across the country, and soon in Mississippi, are giving parents faced with failing schools a choice – the choice to give their child a high-quality public education that prepares them for college and careers,’ said Senator Gray Tollison. “I am honored to be selected as a 2013 Charter Champion, but the true champions are the parents in Mississippi who this year fought tirelessly to pass legislation to build a high-quality public charter school sector in our state.”

Click here for more information.

NAPCS-Announces-2013-Charter-Champions

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This year’s federal Charter Champions are Senator Richard Durbin (IL) and Congressman John Kline (MN).

Senator Richard J. Durbin (IL)
Senator and Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Springfield, is the 47th U.S. Senator from the State of Illinois, the state’s senior senator, and the convener of Illinois’ bipartisan congressional delegation. Senator Durbin is one of the strongest proponents of public charter schools in the United States Senate. In 2010, he introduced a bipartisan bill, the All STAR Act, to replicate and expand the most successful of charter schools across the country. In addition, he was instrumental in the establishment of the first charter school in North Chicago, the LEARN Public Charter School. Located on the edge of the Great Lakes Naval Station in Lake County, IL, the charter network partnered with the United State Navy to open this school.

Congressman John Kline (MN)
Congressman John Kline proudly represents the men and women of Minnesota’s 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives since first being elected to Congress in 2002. As Chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Congressman Kline skillfully forged a bipartisan compromise on legislation to reauthorize the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP), which passed the House of Representatives in September 2011 with 365 votes – the strongest showing yet in the House for public charter schools. This Congress, Chairman Kline will lead efforts to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, including the CSP.

Click here for more information.

Top-Federal-Officials-Support-National-Charter-Schools-Week-2013

Mon, 06 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Public Charter Schools and National Charter Schools Week have recently had support from some of the highest elected officials in the country. President Obama issued a Presidential Proclamation recognizing National Charter Schools Week, 2013. U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.), co-chairs of the Senate Public Charter Schools Caucus, also expressed strong support for public charter schools and marked the start of the 14thannual National Charter Schools Week, which lasts from May 5 to May 11 this year.

President Obama: “Many charter schools choose to locate in communities with few high-quality educational options, making them an important partner in widening the circle of opportunity for students who need it most.”

Senator Alexander: “Charter schools give principals the freedom to lead, teachers the freedom to exercise their own good judgment and parents the freedom to choose the school that is best for their child. This is the formula to help our children learn what they need to know and be able to do so they can succeed in life.”

Senator Landrieu: “Our future will continue to be shaped by how well we prepare today’s students for tomorrow’s challenges. The freedom charter schools have to innovate has invigorated the public education system in New Orleans and across Louisiana, providing parents with a quality choice for their children. Across the country, they are helping shape the conversation about how to improve our education strategy and outcomes, and they should remain one of the key components of that mission.”

We thank these public officials for their outstanding service to the students, parents and families of the public charter school movement.
Click here for more information.

Welcome-to-National-Charter-Schools-Week-2013!

Mon, 06 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

On behalf of the public charter schools movement, welcome to National Charter Schools Week 2013!

National Charter Schools Week – May 5-11, 2013 – celebrates the great work accomplished by public charter schools, which now serve more than 2.3 million students and provide parents with high-quality public education options. This week gives us, as a community, the opportunity to highlight and share in our successes, lessons learned and achievements, and raise awareness of what public charter schools can offer.

This week the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools will join together with representatives from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas in our nation’s Capitol. We will be walking the halls of Congress to advocate on behalf of public charter schools everywhere, while meeting with many of our elected leaders and supporters.

We are also excited to announce the 2013 Charter Champions on Tuesday, May 7. Given annually during National Charter Schools Week, this year’s Charter Champion awards recognize five public officials for their outstanding service to the students, parents and families of the public charter school movement. Stay tuned to @Ninacharters on Twitter as we reveal this year’s champions.

How can you support National Charter Schools Week?

Check out our toolkit for ways you can participate, take part in one of the many events planned across the country or contact your state charter school association to see what events and activities are planned in your area. You could also write your local newspaper editor to help raise awareness that research shows public charter schools are improving student outcomes, or call your local elected officials and ask them to support more favorable policies and equitable funding for charter schools.

Most importantly, remember that this is a week to celebrate the fantastic accomplishments we have achieved during the last year. With more than 6,000 schools serving over 2.3 million students, there is a lot to be excited about this year!

Click here for more information.

Countdown-to-National-Charter-Schools-Week-%282-days-to-go%29

Fri, 03 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

National Charter Schools Week (NCSW) is just around the corner—May 5th-11th. During National Charter Schools Week, we celebrate achievements in the school house and the state house. These achievements could not have been possible without the commitment of teachers, leaders, parents, and advocates from all parts of the country. Check out our toolkit for ways you can participate in NCSW!

During NCSW, we present the Champions for Charters awards to recognize public officials for leading a major public charter issue or initiative, serving as a highly visible public charter school advocate, and consistently supporting charters as a quality public school choice option. As we countdown to NCSW 2013, let's draw inspiration from a past Champion for Charter recipient.

2010 Champion for Charters - U.S. Representative Jared Polis (D-CO-2nd)
Congressman Polis introduced the bipartisan All Students Achieving through Reform Act (All-STAR), H.R. 4330, to support the expansion and replication of high-quality public charter schools that close the achievement gap. It is a key proposal and recognized as the most important piece of federal charter school legislation proposed since the original Charter Schools Program in 1994. Throughout his public service, Rep. Polis, who founded and served as superintendent of charter schools serving at-risk students, has worked hard to ensure that public charter schools are treated fairly and have equal access to education dollars.

“The All-STAR Act is about making the very best educational practices at America’s leading charter schools available to more students,” said Polis. “It’s as simple as finding what does and doesn’t work, funding the best schools, and giving every student the best possible education. This bill will provide hope and opportunity to tens of thousands of additional children at new or expanded charter schools.”
Click here for more information.

Media-Round-Up

Fri, 03 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Charter Schools Unionize,” NAPCS Unionized Charter Schools Report cited in Wall Street Journal, May 1
“Kentucky Charter Schools Movement May Get Bump From Carl Rollins' Resignation,” NAPCS spokesman quoted in WFPL, Apr. 29

News to Know

“D.C. Charters Underfunded, Leaders Tell Council,” Washington Examiner, May 3
“Two Michigan Districts Transformed by Charter Operators,” Education Week, May 2
“Texas House Education Panel Approves Charter School Bill,” Dallas News, May 1
“Florida to Provide $91 Million for Charter School Facilities,” Bradenton Herald, Apr. 30
“Bill Would Allow Connecticut Districts to Share Charters’ Scores,” CT Mirror, Apr. 29

Audience Favorites

Facebook— Granada Hills Charter HS won its third consecutive national title in Academic Decathlon on Saturday, beating out about 50 other teams—including its closest competitor, El Camino Real Charter High School. Congratulations to these public charter school students for their incredible achievement!

Twitter—@charteralliance: Research Shows that the Presence of Public Charter Schools Leads to Improvements in Traditional Public Schools bit.ly/YmAUh6

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

Click here for more information.

NAPCS-Resource-Roundup-for-National-Charter-Schools-Week

Thu, 02 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

National Charter Schools Week (NCSW) is just around the corner—May 5th-11th. During National Charter Schools Week, we celebrate achievements in the school house and the state house. These achievements could not have been possible without the commitment of teachers, leaders, parents, and advocates from all parts of the country.

In preparation for NCSW, this blog features the publications that NAPCS has produced about public charter schools this year. We hope these resources will help your efforts to increase awareness that charter schools are public schools dedicated to improving our nation’s public education system and advocate for a more favorable policy environment for charter schools.

National Charter Schools Week Toolkit
This toolkit is meant to be used as a simple resource for showing examples of events and activities in states, as well as some examples and templates for promoting NCSW.

Public Charter Schools Success: A Summary of the Current Research on Public Charters' Effectiveness at Improving Student Achievement
This report examines high-quality research studies conducted to measure public charter school achievement since 2010.

Serving English Language Learners: A Toolkit for Public Charter Schools
A complicated mix of federal and state laws govern the education of English Language Learner (ELL) students and can make understanding the legal requirements challenging. This toolkit breaks down key federal laws and policies and provides examples of state laws where appropriate. It also gives real world examples from public charter schools across the country and provides a basic framework for conceptualizing, implementing and monitoring an ELL instructional program.

Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of State Charter School Laws
Now in its fourth year, Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of State Public Charter School Laws ranks each of the country’s 43 state charter school laws. Each state receives a score on its law’s strength based on the 20 essential components from the NAPCS model law, which include measuring quality and accountability, equitable access to funding and facilities and limited caps on charter school growth.
Click here for more information.

Research-Shows-Presence-of-Public-Charter-Schools-Leads-to-Improvements-in-Traditional-Public-Schools

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

When a public charter school opens in a neighborhood, there are several impacts that are worth consideration: Will the charter school create pressure on neighboring traditional public schools (TPS) to make changes in their organization, instructional strategies, or outreach to families that may lead to improvements in student achievement? New research presented at the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) 38th Annual Conference suggests that traditional public schools do in fact respond to the presence of public charter schools. Yusuke Jinnai, a Ph.D candidate in Economics at the University of Rochester, examined the impact of opening public charter schools on achievement levels for students at a neighboring traditional public school in North Carolina. A few interesting findings from the study:

Public charter schools generated “a positive and significant direct impact on student achievement” in math and reading at nearby traditional public schools.
About 25 percent of this direct impact can be explained by low-achieving students switching from traditional public schools to charter schools, leaving higher-performing students at traditional schools.
The larger portion of the impact was due to direct competitive effects. In other words, the presence of public charter schools encouraged TPS to make improvements for remaining students that lead to increases in student performance.

Using student-level North Carolina panel data from 1997 to 2005, the study is innovative because it focuses on gaps in grades between charter schools and TPS in North Carolina. Oftentimes, a charter school will open with a single grade level and expand their grade range in subsequent years. Jinnai uses this gap to tease out the direct impact charter schools have on TPS students in overlapping grades and indirect impact on non-overlapping grades. Previous research estimated the impact of charter schools on TPS for all grade levels, regardless of whether charter schools served students in all grade levels.

Jinnai shows that the introduction of charter schools generates a positive and significant direct impact on student achievement: an increase of 0.033 standard deviations in math and 0.017 in reading for neighboring TPS students. While these gains are small in comparison to the impact of experienced teachers or per-pupil expenditure on achievement, they are larger and more accurate than previous competitive-effects studies due to the distinction between direct and indirect impact.

Public charter schools in North Carolina attract lower performing students, but they are showing academic success. In 2010, 77 percent of public charter schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). In contrast, 57 percent of traditional public schools made AYP in 2010. With North Carolina lifting their 100-charter school cap in 2011 and receiving 70 new charter applications for the 2014-2015 school year, there is potential for significant learning gains for all public school students.

Jinnai’s new paper debunks the myth that the success of public charter schools comes at the detriment of neighboring traditional public schools. In North Carolina, public charter schools contribute to education reform by serving low-performing students and encouraging high standards of performance for nearby traditional public schools.

Click here for more information.

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Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Colorado-Students-Celebrate-20-Years-of-Public-Charter-Schools

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This month, nearly 800 students, teachers and administrators gathered at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver to celebrate public charter schools.

The rally, hosted annually by the Colorado League of Charter Schools, had a special theme this year, as 2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Colorado Charter Schools Act. In 1993, the state’s first two charter schools opened their doors (The Connect School in Pueblo, and Academy Charter School in Castle Rock) – both schools are still very successful and boast high student achievement.

Over the course of a week, the rotunda of the Colorado State Capitol was brought to life with displays of charter school student artwork from T.R. Paul Academy of Arts and Knowledge (Fort Collins) and CIVA Charter High School (Colorado Springs). In addition, the Capitol was lined with visual statistics highlighting facts and figures about the state’s charter community. For example, “More K-12 students are enrolled in Colorado charter schools than any school district in the state,” and “The average Colorado charter school student receives 15 percent less public funding than the average peer student in a traditional public school.”

The event offered a variety of activities for public charter school students of all ages. Preceding the rally were two student debates (held in the Old Supreme Court Chambers) by middle school students in the Charter School Debate League, as well as various tours of the State Capitol.

The rally itself began with the National Anthem performed by the Belle Creek Charter School band (Henderson, CO) and the Rocky Mountain Deaf School (Golden, CO). During the rally, attendees heard from students, teachers, principals, elected officials and more. The event was high-energy and a fun learning experience for all. Many of the speakers took the stage and revved up the crowd while celebrating public charter schools. “I love charter schools,” “I love charter school teachers,” and other upbeat slogans were chanted in unison by the crowd.

The students proudly waved signs that read, “Thank You for My Charter School,” and “Celebrating 20 Years of Colorado Charter Schools.”

Winners of the 5th annual Colorado Charter School Essay Contest were honored during the rally. Over 1,200 essays were submitted this year, from students across the state. There were four age categories. Click here to learn more about the contest and read about the topics.

Runners Up

Brighid Griffin, Grade 2, Legacy Academy (Elizabeth)
Gabe Klar, Grade 4, Colorado Calvert Academy (Online School)
Jacob Kaze, Grade 8, Platte River Academy (Highlands Ranch)
Robert Trujillo, Grade 9, Swallows Charter Academy (Pueblo)

Winners

Shruthi Rajesh, Grade 2, SkyView Academy (Highlands Ranch; Winner of a $250 College Scholarship from S&S Worldwide
Hadley Fisher, Grade 3, Excel Academy (Arvada; Winner of a $250 College Scholarship from S&S Worldwide
Lauren Kloser, Grade 7, Rocky Mountain Deaf School (Golden); Winner of a $250 College Scholarship from S&S Worldwide
Ricardo Galdamez-Escobar, Grade 12, Colorado High School Charter (Denver); Winner of a $500 College Scholarship from S&S Worldwide

A special thank you to Cenpatico for sponsoring the rally and to S&S Worldwide for sponsoring the essay contest.

The next celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Colorado Charter Schools will be at a special luncheon and silent auction event scheduled for Monday, June 3 in Denver. This date is significant as it falls exactly 20 years to the day that Governor Roy Romer signed the Colorado Charter Schools Act. The event will include an awards presentation, a documentary film and featured speaker Chester E. Finn, Jr. Please visit www.coloradoleague.org/luncheon to learn more and to register.

Click here for more information.

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Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Interview-with-CRPE's-Betheny-Gross-on-Blended-Learning-Model-Innovations

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Blended learning is an innovative education model that combines online and traditional instruction. The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study the financial implications of a range of blended learning models. I caught up with Dr. Betheny Gross, CRPE's senior research analyst and research director, to talk about the study.

Q: What is the framework of the study?
A: There are two parts to the study. One is to continue to develop a classification of blended [learning]. People take different approaches to blended learning. Many of the approaches are similar, but with their own take depending on different theories of action about teaching and learning.

Some people go into blended thinking they need to radically personalize [education] for each student, and the best way we can do that is to harness technology. There are others that think about how best to optimize teachers by maximizing opportunities for kids to have in-depth discussions with teachers who are addressing their specific needs and goals. A way to do that is to have some of the instruction and curriculum happen over technology.

Part of the work we’re doing is thinking through theories of action…what type of school do they imply in terms of teachers and technology, and then costing it out. In our observation of schools that are implementing these models, we’re asking and commenting on questions such as: What does the resource allocation look like? What resources are needed for start-up and for continuation [schools]? How are resources distributed throughout the building? Do traditional revenue structures correspond or not to the way these schools need to structure their resources?

Q: What is the motivation of the study?
A: A lot of people are looking to blended as something that’s a new and a vital piece of our progress in education. They’re seeing it as an opportunity to expand the capacity and productivity of teachers in schools. There’s a lot of energy behind it right now, and a lot of development going on in the field to make sure that there’s good research to support that development.

Q: What do you hope to find out?
A: What we want to understand is how resources are used, and the extent that we see a new distribution of labor and technology for the delivery of instruction. We also want to understand how schools pursuing this work can do it in a sustainable way. This is a challenging question because so many of the schools engaging in blended learning received substantial start-up grants. And we know that there are and can be rather substantial startup or transition costs, especially if it requires a big investment in network and fiber.

Q: What role do public charter schools play in blended learning?
A: Public charter schools are called on to be our innovators, to be our incubators. They have both the incentive and opportunity to really explore these models because of their ability to optimize resources in schools.

I think there are a lot of incentives for charters. It’s not lost on anybody in the charter sector that they have to be very careful with budgets, which tend to be very tight. This is an opportunity to think through how technology can optimize their resources.

With the freedom public charter schools have around resource allocation, they really do have the opportunity to go out and rethink the whole school from top to bottom. They don’t need to have 15 classrooms with a teacher and 30 kids in them. They don’t need to think about [getting] into spend-it-or-lose-it arrangements. They can think about how to structure their spending; how to reconfigure their revenue and expenditure flows; and different ways to structure pay for teachers.

This is all within their reach–they don’t have many of the traditional revenue or expenditure constraints that district schools are now slowly unpacking. Charters can move very quickly. It’s not a surprise that a lot of the schools in our study are public charter schools.

Q: What role do you see blended learning playing in the future of public education?
A: I think it depends on what we find in these early studies, and there are also impact studies going on. I anticipate, although I don’t have any particular evidence to back this up, that we are going to see it more and more. I think that it’s an approach that addresses a lot of resource challenges that we are facing.

I think it’s also an approach that’s very respecting of the fact that kids are brought up interacting with information differently than we did when we were kids. It tries to take advantage of that, and meet kids where they are with how they work with and think through information. And in that sense, it has a lot of great potential.

Q: What is the timeline of the study?
A: The study is a 19 month study starting from last December. An interim report will come out sometime in the fall, and then the final will be out the following summer.

Photo: Dr. Betheny Gross, Senior Research Analyst and Research Director at the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE)

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Lift cap on urban charters,” op-ed by Nina Rees (President & CEO), Worcester Telegram, Apr. 25
“Charter Schools vs. Public: Is One Better Than the Other?” NAPCS research summary cited in Take Part, Apr. 25
“Charter School Research Largely Positive, Says New Summary,” NAPCS research summary cited in Education Week’s Charter & Choice blog, Apr. 24
“Three little-known facts about charter schools in Michigan,” NAPCS market share report cited in Michigan Radio, Apr. 24
“Why Are 2 of U.S. News's Top 5 'Best High Schools' Arizona Charter Schools?” Nina Rees quoted in The Atlantic, Apr. 23
“Advocate for rural public charter schools,” NAPCS Beyond City Limits issue brief cited in Daily Tarheel letter to the editor, Apr. 23

News to Know

“Charter Parents United Rally for Equal Funding in Chicago,” Chicago Sun-Times, Apr. 26
“Public Charter Schools Rank High in U.S. News & World Report’s List of Best High Schools,” U.S. News & World Report, Apr. 25
“Atlanta Parent Starts Petition to Restore Charter School Funding,” East Atlanta Patch, Apr. 24
“Opinion: In Kentucky, Let Failing Schools Become Charter Schools,” WDRB, Apr. 23
“Tennessee Legislature Adjourns Without Passing Charter School Bill,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, Apr. 22

Audience Favorites

Facebook— U.S. News and World Report released its 2013 Best High Schools Rankings: 28 public charter schools are among the top 100; Three charter schools hold the top five rankings. Congratulations to these charter schools recognized as the top public high schools in the nation!

Twitter—@charteralliance: Board Chair of #2 and #5 ranked @USNewsEducation #2013BestHighSchools will be a keynote panelist at #NCSC13 bit.ly/12hBpqQ

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Countdown-to-National-Charter-Schools-Week-%289-days-to-go%29

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

"The mission of Hope Academy is to provide students who have dropped out of a formal educational program, as well as those contemplating dropping out, an opportunity to obtain a quality education leading to a diploma... Hope Academy continues to excel by surpassing the State of Missouri’s average graduation rate of 86.7 percent with a 93.1 percent rate... The personal growth and knowledge I have received while working at an innovative and evolving charter school are skills I will be able to use for the rest of my life, much like the skills Hope Academy’s students gain."

—Zachary Bassin, Director of Operations and Development at Hope Academy Charter School in Kansas City, Missouri

Click here for more information.

NAPCS-Research-Summary-on-Public-Charter-Schools’-Academic-Performance-Shows-Positive-Trends

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

We've released a new report summarizing the prominent research studies published over the past four years that compared the academic performance of students who attended public charter schools and traditional public schools. The quick takeaway: the gold standard research since 2010 shows public charter school students are outperforming their traditional school peers.

Of the 14 studies published since 2010, three national studies and 10 regional studies from across the country found positive academic performance results for students in charter schools compared to their traditional school peers. One Utah-based regional study found mixed to negative results. The research studies that were included in this report—from organizations including the Center on Reinventing Public Education, CREDO and Mathematica Policy Research—used longitudinal student-level data and robust analysis to examine the impact of public charter schools compared to district schools. The national studies looking at charter management organizations, single-site models and the KIPP model found that public charter schools have a positive impact on student achievement compared to traditional public schools. In Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York City, Washington, D.C. and Wisconsin, the regional studies also found that public charter schools have a positive impact on student achievement.

For a summary of studies prior to 2010, see the NAPCS report, Measuring Charter Performance: A Review of Public Charter School Achievement Studies. Also, check out a visual display of public charter school performance effects over time.

Click here for more information.

Two-BASIS-Schools-Top-U.S.-News-Best-High-School-Rankings

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

As we noted yesterday, public charter schools represented 28 percent of the Top 100 on the U.S. News Best High School Rankings. Three public charter schools held spots in the Top 5—and two of those three top public charter schools are part of the BASIS Schools network. Our president and CEO remarked that BASIS Schools' incredible academic performance "is a sign that there is something in their formula that needs to be replicated as quickly as possible, because it seems to be producing great results." You can learn more about BASIS schools at the National Charter Schools Conference, where BASIS board chair Dr. Craig Barrett, who was fromerly Intel's president (in 1997), CEO (in 1998) and chairman of the board (in 2005), will be part of a keynote panel on “Educating Tomorrow’s Leaders.”

Dr. Craig Barrett
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Countdown-to-National-Charter-Schools-Week-%2810-days-to-go%29

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Countdown-to-National-Charter-Schools-Week-%2811-days-to-go%29

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

We've designed a toolkit meant to be used as a simple resource for events and activities in states, and provide some examples and templates for promoting NCSW. The toolkit offers suggestions to promote efforts around:

Public Awareness. Spread the word about NCSW by reaching out to the media, elected officials, and others about the successes of public charter schools in your state and community.
State and Local Events. Invite your elected officials to these events to show them first-hand the great things public charter schools bring to their state and communities.
Advocacy. Speak out about public charter school achievements and the benefits they offer to families across the country by writing letters to the editors of your local and statewide newspapers, contacting your elected officials about why they should support public charter schools, and sharing your public charter school’s achievements via social media.

Click here to access the NCSW toolkit.

Click here for more information.

Public-Charter-Schools-Top-U.S.-News-0024-World-Report-Best-High-Schools-Rankings

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Today, the U.S. News & World Report released its 2013 Best High Schools Rankings, and 28 public charter schools are among the top 100. Three public charter high schools are ranked in the top 10: BASIS Tucson (#2), Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology (#3), and BASIS Scottsdale (#5).

U.S. News teamed up with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to produce the 2013 rankings. Public high schools were evaluated by their students’ performance on state-mandated assessments, minority and economically disadvantaged student performance, and Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exam results to determine preparedness for college-level work.

Public charter school representation in the top 100 of the U.S. News Best High Schools Rankings has grown dramatically over the past five years:

10 public charter schools in 2009
18 public charter schools in 2010
18 public charter schools in 2011
17 public charter schools in 2012
28 public charter schools in 2013

Based on the two major rankings released this year, 28 is a lucky number for public charter high schools (28 public charter schools were also on the Washington Post’s top 100 Challenge Index rankings last week). Place your bets now for Newsweek's America's Best High Schools rankings.

Congratulations to these charter schools recognized as the top public high schools in the nation!

Image via U.S. News & World Report website

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Countdown-to-National-Charter-Schools-Week-%2812-days-to-go%29

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

National Charter Schools Week (NCSW) is just around the corner—May 5th-11th. During National Charter Schools Week, we celebrate achievements in the school house and the state house. These achievements could not have been possible without the commitment of teachers, leaders, parents and advocates from all parts of the country.

“For me, charter schools will always represent opportunity; an opportunity for adults to make a difference in the lives of students and for students to explore skills and talents they didn't know they had.”

—Michael Skeldon, Ed.D., Principal of the Beacon Charter High School for the Arts in Woonsocket, RI

Click here for more information.

U.S.-ED-Awards-Green-Ribbon-Schools-on-Earth-Day

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Today is Earth Day, and in conjunction with this event, the U.S. Department of Education announced the 2013 winners of their Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) award. GRS honors schools that are exemplary in reducing environmental impact and costs; improving the health and wellness of students and staff; and providing effective environmental and sustainability education, which incorporates STEM, civic skills and green career pathways. This year’s winners were 64 traditional public, public charter, and private schools and 14 districts.

Among the seven public charter schools honored in the GRS award, here are some highlights:

Journey School (Aliso Viejo, CA) offers a comprehensive eco-education program; has a partnership with Tanaka Farms, which delivers baskets of fresh organic produce weekly for faculty, students, and parents; and the school has established five gardens in its community.
Redding School of the Arts II (Redding, CA) was the first school campus worldwide to be certified LEED Platinum in 2009 and is a national model of sustainability. In addition to being a visual and performing arts school, RSA has a Mandarin language immersion program that includes outdoor learning, and maintains a relationship with a sister school in China.
Common Ground High School (New Haven, CT) was the nation’s first environment-themed charter school; composts 100 percent of its organic waste onsite; and its campus is a 20-acre demonstration farm at the base of a state park.
Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School (Washington, D.C.) was the first public charter school in D.C. explicitly dedicated to being a green school. All of the school’s furniture is always certified as 100 percent recycled, sustainably made, and non-toxic, and students enjoy activity through yoga, physical education classes, and enjoy an hour of outdoor time each day.
Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School (Washington, D.C.) has a new permanent campus on three wooded acres of land, a unique and treasured setting for an urban school. The school lunch vendor, Revolution Foods, is committed to providing clients with healthy, unprocessed food, and adheres to the school’s “no junk food” policy.
Ivy Academy (Soddy-Daisy, TN) takes advantage of its location near state-protected land, and its students spend 30-50 percent of the school day outside—including academic classes commonly held outside. Students are also required to participate in at least one year of service learning courses which focus partly on environmental projects.
Jefferson Elementary-Fox River Academy (Appleton, WI) has integrated sustainability topics to the academic curriculum, and uses a Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS) with rewards such as basketball, dance, and open gym.

Congratulations to all the GRS winners recognized for their exemplary efforts to make their schools healthier, safer, more cost efficient, and sustainable.

Click here for more information.

Media-Round-Up

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Unions' Charter-School Push,” Nina Rees (President & CEO) quoted in Wall Street Journal, Apr. 15

News to Know

“Ohio House Proposal Would Increase Charter School Funding,” Plain Dealer, Apr. 19
“Among Five Cities, D.C. Charters Have Biggest Funding Disparity with Traditional Public Schools,” Washington Post, Apr. 18
“New Hampshire Charter School Advocates Start Online Petition for School Approvals,” Nashua Telegraph, Apr. 17
“North Carolina Charter School Bill Would Create Independent Authorizing Board," WFAE, Apr. 16
“L.A. Mayoral Candidate Pledges to Be the ‘Education-Reform’ Mayor,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 15

Audience Favorites

Facebook— Public Charter Schools Hold Top Rankings on Washington Post’s Challenge Index: In the past three years, public charter schools have grown from 17 percent, to 25 percent, and this year 28 percent of the schools in the top 100 Challenge Index high schools--and have held the #1 rank for two years running. Congratulations to these public charter schools being recognized for providing a rigorous academic experience for their students. http://www.publiccharters.org/Blog/Default.aspx?id=386

Twitter—@charteralliance: May 5-11 is just around the corner! RT @Mashea: National Charter Schools Week is less than 3 weeks away! #CharterSchools#SchoolChoice #NCSW

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Funding-Disparity-Persists-for-Public-Charter-Schools-in-Five-Large-Cities

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Research on per pupil funding from 2002-2003 and 2006-2007 documented large disparities between public charter schools and traditional public schools. The 2002-2003 data showed public charter schools receiving 21.7 percent less per pupil funding than traditional public schools. The gap in 2006-2007 was slightly diminished to 19.2 percent. Unfortunately for five large cities, the funding gap in 2010-2011 remained.

In a new report, Education’s Fiscal Cliff: Real or Perceived, researchers find that public charter schools in Denver, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Newark, and Washington, D.C. received an average of one third less per pupil funding than traditional public schools, which equates to an average of $4,000 less per student (see the table below). The gap varies from $2,100 in Denver to nearly $13,000 in Washington, D.C. For three cities, Denver, Los Angeles, and Milwaukee, the gap in funding grew between 2006-2007 and 2010-2011. In Newark and Washington, D.C. the funding gap decreased. However, in these two cities, public charter schools received more than $10,000 less per student than traditional public schools.

City	Traditional Public School Per Pupil Funding	Public Charter School Per Pupil Funding	Funding Disparity	Funding Disparity as Percent of Traditional Public School Per Pupil Funding
Denver	$13,283	$11,139	$2,144	16.1%
Los Angeles	$13,446	$8,780	$4,666	34.7%
Milwaukee	$15,018	$10,298	$4,720	31.4%
Newark	$26,187	$15,973	$10,214	39.0%
Washington, D.C.	$29,145	$16,361	$12,784	43.9%

Source: Maloney, L, M. Batdorff, J. May, & M. Terrell. (2013). Education’s Fiscal Cliff, Real or Perceived?

The data serve as a reminder that in many states and cities, public charter schools operate under inequitable conditions, receiving less than traditional public schools while being held to the same measures of accountability.

Click here for more information.

Public-Charter-Schools-Hold-Top-Rankings-on-Washington-Post’s-Challenge-Index

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Recently, the Washington Post released the results of its annual Challenge Index rankings. The index score is calculated by the number of college-level tests given at a school in 2012, divided by the number of graduates that year (education columnist Jay Mathews answers Challenge Index FAQs here). Also noted are the percentage of students who come from families that qualify for lunch subsidies and the percentage of graduates who passed at least one college-level test during their high school career, indicators called equity and excellence for the Challenge Index.

This year, 28 public charter schools are among the 2012-2013 Challenge Index top 100 schools—including the #1 American Indian Public Charter (Oakland, CA), #4 Corbett Charter (Corbett, OR), #8 Signature (Evansville, IN), and #10 Gwinnett School of Math, Science & Tech (Lawrenceville, GA).

Having a public charter school at the top of the Challenge Index is not a new occurrence. In last year’s 2011-2012 Challenge Index, BASIS Tucson held the top rank. A total of 25 public charter schools ranked among the top 100 schools—including three charter schools in the top 10.

In 2010-2011 (the last year that we have grade configuration information for traditional public schools), there were 2,186 public charter schools serving the high school grades and 25,513 traditional public schools with high school grades. So public charter schools were 8.6 percent of the total number of high schools, yet comprised 17 percent of the Challenge Index ranked schools in the top 100 schools.

In the past three years, public charter schools have grown from 17 percent, to 25 percent, and this year 28 percent of the schools in the top 100 Challenge Index high schools. Public charter schools are over-represented on this ranking list, and the percentage is growing. Congratulations to these public charter schools being recognized for providing a rigorous academic experience for their students.

Image via Washington Post
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Moving-to-a-Common-System-of-Choice-in-D.C.

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The growth of public charter schools in Washington, D.C.—coupled with out-of-boundary options for the traditional public school system, and vouchers—have made D.C. one of the most robust school choice environments in the nation. But as executive director of the DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB), I’ve seen and heard how in the charter sector, the proliferation of options has brought its own problems when it comes to picking and enrolling in a school.

D.C. has 57 charter organizations that operate 102 campuses, each with its own means of enrolling students. Parents said that with so many different application dates, the process was confusing and headache-inducing, leading some to throw up their hands and opt out. It can also act as a subtle barrier to the least advantaged families.

For oversubscribed public charter schools that held lotteries, each school’s lottery was separate, meaning that some families get into many schools, while others into none–with no account taken for a family’s first or second choices. And with uncoordinated enrollment systems, families enroll in several schools and decide at the last minute which to attend, triggering a cascade of students switching schools after classes start, a phenomenon known as the “waitlist shuffle.”

With more than 35,000 students enrolled, or 43 percent of the public school population, our charter schools haven’t been entirely happy with the application and enrollment process either. They have to contend with higher student turnover, phantom enrollment, and mobility in the first month of school that can exceed 10 percent of the student body.

Clearly collective action was needed to address these issues, and it made most sense for PCSB to facilitate. But to make progress, we knew our action had to be respectful of charter school autonomy and voluntary, with charter schools themselves designing and directing the path forward. Enrollment is a charter school’s lifeblood. Only if we moved gradually, without laws, regulations, and mandates, and in a way that was informed by the schools’ perspectives, would this succeed.

The first issue we would tackle was having a single, common enrollment deadline. Our schools had more than 30 separate deadlines for applying—along with different dates for lotteries, notification, and enrollment. Looking at every school’s process, the most common date was March 15. My team and I individually called each school leader to ask for their support. Many schools initially said “yes.” Others signed on when they saw how many of their peers were. In the end, just four or five schools opted out.

The schools joined a working group that became a key forum for addressing other related issues. They agreed, for example, to set a common enrollment deadline of April 12 as a way of minimizing duplicate enrollments. They agreed to share enrollment information as a way to flag dual enrollments that do occur. The facilitator of this workgroup, Abigail Smith, built tremendous trust among the schools. (Two weeks ago D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray appointed Smith to be his Deputy Mayor for Education.) And we had key philanthropic support from NewSchools, which helped launch a media campaign called Your Charter Your Choice, which that put signs at bus stops and ads on the radio and in newspapers, to make sure parents knew about the date.

The April 12 acceptance deadline has just passed, and we’re eager to hear the final numbers. But early data indicate tremendous success. One public charter school saw a 66 percent increase in applications. Another charter school said that this year they saw their highest interest level from parents yet, showing that awareness of the deadline was high. With schools sharing information about their acceptance lists, we expect far fewer duplicate enrollments.

Now the working group is turning its attention to the next issues, a common lottery and common application, for charters and the traditional school system. Many schools are enthusiastic about these next steps; others are understandably more cautious. I’m confident that through the same collaborative process that created the common deadline, we can develop a common system of choice that will work well for parents and for charter schools.

Scott Pearson
Executive Director
DC Public Charter School Board

Click here for more information.

Media-Round-UP

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Charter School Operators Defend Performance,” NAPCS data cited in Philadelphia Tribune, Apr. 11
“Louisiana parents have power in their children's education, study says,” NAPCS Model Law cited in Times-Picayune, Apr. 11
“Obama Budget Increases Education Spending, Flatlines Key Funds For Poor And Students With Disabilities,” Nina Rees (President & CEO) cited in Huffington Post, Apr. 10
“LePage proposes taking money from education aid for legal defense,” Lisa Grover (Sr. Director of State Advocacy) quoted in Bangor Daily News, Apr. 9
“Exploring the Link Between Charters and Private School Enrollment Decline,” NAPCS data cited in Education Week Charters & Choice blog, Apr. 9
“Give charter schools chance to learn, grow,” NAPCS Model Law cited in Bangor Daily News Op-Ed, Apr. 8
“N.C. charter school oversight plan does not include ‘best practices,’ expert says,” Todd Ziebarth (Sr. VP for State Advocacy) quoted in Sacramento Bee, Apr. 6

News to Know

“Texas Senate Passes Charter School Bill,” Austin American-Statesman, Apr. 12
“Montana House Committee Considers Public Charter Schools,” Beartooth NBC, Apr. 11
“Tennessee Senate Delays Action on State Charter Authorizer,” Times News, Apr. 10
“New York City Mayor Announces New Schools, Including 26 Charters,” New York Times, Apr. 9
“South Carolina Charter Schools Receive Awards,” WBTW, Apr. 8

Audience Favorites

Facebook— Take ACTION: Click to link below to ask your Member of Congress to support more federal funding for public charter schools! http://salsa.publiccharters.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9186

Twitter—@charteralliance: @DSSTPubSchools CEO to testify at @EdWorkforce hearing on #STEM education at 10 AM EST tomorrow 1.usa.gov/ZBk2Ej

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Raising-the-Bar:-Reviewing-STEM-Education-in-America

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Serving as the CEO of Denver School of Science and Technology Public Schools (DSST), I can readily say that STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) is an important priority for me. But more importantly, it must be a priority for our nation.

On behalf of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, I recently testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education on how the public charter sector is leading the way in providing students – of all backgrounds–with high-quality STEM education. As we continue to see the trend of public charter school students outperforming their traditional public school peers, policy makers should consider the lessons we have learned–particularly in the field of STEM education.

DSST Public Schools serves more than 2,000 students at six open-enrollment STEM public charter schools on four campuses; our schools are focused on preparing every student to succeed in four-year college with the opportunity to pursue a STEM field of study in college. DSST schools are not magnet schools or in any way selective and as a result, our student body is very diverse. Yet DSST Public Schools operates some of the most successful public schools in Colorado. We are most proud of measures that show growth–meaning, how much did a student learn from the first day of school to the last day of school.

Most importantly, DSST proves, without a doubt, that all students, regardless of race or income, can earn a rigorous STEM high school diploma and attend four-year colleges and universities. Preparing every student to succeed in a four-year college with the opportunity to study STEM is at the center of DSST’s academic program. Every single senior in the history of DSST Public Schools has earned acceptance to four-year college–an unprecedented track record of success in Colorado. Preparing our nation’s students for our highest-need, hardest-to-fill jobs is one of the most important tasks of our public education system. Today, we are not providing our students from low-income families with access to the highest-quality STEM education and the preparation needed to enter critical fields like engineering, computer science and bioscience. We have long reserved STEM education for the gifted and talented, denying our students and our nation’s employers with the opportunity to fill a critical national need.

DSST Public Schools represents an important and growing movement to open up high-quality STEM education to all students regardless of their ethnic, economic or academic background.

If we are to tackle the issue of providing effective STEM education for all students, educators and policy makers should consider some key building blocks of any successful STEM program. First, our schools are uniquely built on the premise that all students deserve access to a high-quality STEM education. A majority of DSST students enter well below grade level in the 6th and 9th grades and could never be accepted into a magnet science program on the basis of a test. Many students are conditioned to believe that science and advanced math “is an extra” and only for “smart kids.” In our schools, these subjects are not extras, but a core subject for all students. All students are required to take a STEM college preparatory curriculum–there is no remedial track in our school.

Our second key belief is that schools must provide a rigorous STEM preparatory curriculum. We believe that the most important factor in a student choosing and ultimately completing a STEM degree is his or her preparedness to succeed at the college and graduate level. Thus we design our curriculum to provide students with the best possible preparation to succeed in STEM fields in four year colleges.

Lastly, we believe the success of any school must be rooted in a strong school culture that focuses on building character and creating an environment that expects all students to be college ready. Students are challenged, but supported in our schools. A peer-driven culture is reflected in each of our schools where going to college is “cool” and expected.

Of course, DSST and our students would not be successful without the dedication and expertise of our outstanding teachers. Teachers at DSST are driven by their unwavering belief in our students, driven by data, and continually reflect on student performance. They receive extensive support, including observations and feedback, peer-driven professional development, and targeted development in new instructional techniques to ensure they are incorporating the best instructional strategies in their classrooms.

For our country to continue to lead the way in the 21st century economy, we must re-double our efforts to provide every child with access to a high-quality STEM education.

Image via DSST website

Click here for more information.

Media-Round-Up

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“The thirst for charter schools,” NAPCS data cited in Chicago Tribune op-ed, Apr. 4
“Mississippi Passes Major Improvements to its Public Charter School Law,” Nina Rees (President & CEO) quoted in NAPCS press release, Apr. 3
“Idaho Lawmakers Approve More Modest Charter School Law Overhaul,” NAPCS Model Law cited in Boise State Public Radio, Apr. 3
“Miss. Senate gives final OK to charter schools,” NAPCS Model Law cited in Sun Herald, Apr. 3

News to Know

“Florida House Passes Two Charter School Bills,” Florida Current, Apr. 5
“Mississippi Charter School Bill Heads to Governor’s Desk,” Clarion Ledger, Apr. 4
“A Crucible of Change in Memphis,” New York Times, Apr. 3
“Maine Governor, Charter Supporters Protest Proposed Changes in Funding,” Kennebec Journal, Apr. 2
“Letter: Charters Are Lifting the D.C. Public School System,” Washington Post, Apr. 1

Audience Favorites

Facebook— In his New York Times column, Thomas Friedman shared the results of a new international benchmark study which shows that two U.S. public charter schools—BASIS Tucson North and North Star Academy in Newark, NJ—are literally outperforming every country in the world!
http://publiccharters.org/Blog/Default.aspx?id=381

Twitter—@Charteralliance Public Charter Schools' Performance Tops New Study on Global Competitiveness bit.ly/YVwBqE; Pres of #1 schl will speak at #NCSC13!

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Public-Charter-School-Performance-Tops-New-Study-on-Global-Competitiveness

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT

In his New York Times column, Thomas Friedman shared the results of a new study. Rather than just comparing themselves to others in the United States, some schools signed up to see how they stack up relative to the international average. The America Achieves’ “Middle Class or Middle of the Pack?” report goes through this data to better understand exactly how our schools are underperforming.

Both Friedman and the report debunk the myth that it’s America’s poverty rate that keeps our schools uncompetitive on a global scale. America Achieves’ report formally shows what numerous other studies have already demonstrated: that the highest-performing schools are not always filled with well-to-do students. Several schools across the country, including two public charter schools, demonstrate that poverty is not to blame for our low rankings on the international test.

The report mentions two schools in particular which stand out: North Star Academy in Newark, N.J. and BASIS Tucson North in Ariz. Both schools have been on my radar for years as very high-performing public charter schools, and I’m thrilled to see that not only are they knocking it out of the park here in the U.S. but are also excelling on a global scale. North Star Academy outperforms the average student in all but nine countries in reading—impressive for a school with 80.3 percent of students eligible for free and reduced price lunch.

However, BASIS Tucson North took the prize with performance that beat the global competition, outperforming the average school in every country in the world in math, science, and reading. It is with great pleasure that we will welcome Craig Barrett, President and Chairman of BASIS schools, to participate in a keynote panel at the 2013 National Charter Schools Conference. His schools set high expectations for all students—six AP classes is the norm—and the students step up and achieve. Dr. Barrett will share why this matters in terms of making sure that children are not only college and career ready but able to step up and become leaders in future generations.

Congratulations to both of these schools!

Craig Barrett, President and Chairman of BASIS schools

Image via North Star Academy website
Click here for more information.

Model-Law-March-Madness

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

With the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament under way, we’ve all become experts in bracketology (see President Obama’s picks here). But how would the tournament play out if teams advanced according to their state’s ranking on our model law?

In the Midwest region, we’d see an immediate fall of the number one seed. As one of only eight states that does not allow parents the opportunity to choose a public charter school for their child, Kentucky-based Louisville would quickly be knocked out. Second seed Duke would also be eliminated in the first round—New York-based Albany holds the eighth spot on our model law, while North Carolina is twenty-fourth. Despite its eighth seed in the tournament rankings, Colorado State’s home base holds the fourth strongest public charter school legislation in the nation, which would carry it to win the Midwest region.

The West region would advance according to the top tournament seed. Gonzaga is located in Washington, which comes in third on our model law rankings. Unlike in actual tournamet play, this high model law ranking would easily carry the first seed Gonzaga to win the region. On the other side of the bracket, Ohio State University falls in the bottom half of the 42 states with public charter school legislation, and would be upset by Iona’s New York-based ranking as one of the top ten states on our model law.

In the East, we’d see strong several strong contenders: Indiana (ranked 9 on our model law) would vie with California (seventh spot on the model law), and Butler (Pennsylvania is 19th on our model law) would duke it out with Colorado (fourth in the model law rankings)—which would go on to win the East region.

Finally, the South region would behold the ultimate Cinderella story. Minnesota tops our model law rankings, which would carry the 11 seed to win the entire tournament.

While we would not recommend actually filling out your bracket according to this methodology, this theoretical tournament bracket does point out states that are committed to improving the statutes that enable a thriving public charter school sector.

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

Will Obama's Budget Recognize Charter Schools?, Nina Rees (President & CEO) editorial in the Wall Street Journal, Mar. 26

News to Know

“Idaho Senate Passes Charter School Facilities Funding Bill,” Spokesman-Review, Mar. 29
"D.C. School Facilities Plan Considers Charters for the First Time,” Washington Post, Mar. 28
“Mississippi House Narrowly Rejects Charter Schools Bill, But Issue Not Dead,” Mississippi Press, Mar. 27
“Teacher-Prep Programs Zero In on Effective 'Practice',” Education Week, Mar. 26
“Editorial: Unchain the Charters in Chicago,” Chicago Tribune, Mar. 25

Audience Favorites

Facebook—In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, our President Nina Rees urges the White House, Congress and state-level policy makers to give public charter schools their fair share of funding, eliminate state caps on their growth and hold them accountable for performance. “The data are in. Charters can—and do—deliver top-notch education even to the most disadvantaged of American students.”

Twitter—@charteralliance The wait to get into a Chicago charter school is among longest in any US district; @chicagotribune calls for change trib.in/16bQL1K

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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New-Directions-for-Public-Charter-School-Governance

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The Fordham Institute released a pithy new paper today on the governance of public charter schools. In it, the author, Adam Emerson, questions one of the age-old (at least since 1991, when charters first came on the scene) assumptions about charters: that each school must have its own community-based governing board that operates the school and serves students from nearby communities.

A lot has changed over the last 22 years, with “all of those Os” emerging in the sector (via CMOs and EMOs), as Dr. Howard Fuller said at our conference in 2009. While 68 percent of public charter schools still fit the original “mom and pop” mold, 20 percent are operated by non-profit charter management organizations (CMOs) and 12 percent by for-profit education management organizations (EMOs). And 200+ charters offer full-time virtual instruction.

Emerson offers two sets of policy recommendations for better aligning the regulatory environment for charters with what’s happening on the ground that are consistent with our model law:

The first would allow a single governing board to manage multiple schools to make it easier for high-performing charters to replicate and expand (that’s Component #15 in our model law).
The second would create statutory guidelines for relationships between charter schools and educational service providers to ensure that the schools are in the driver’s seat in these relationships – not the other way around (that’s Component #10 in our model law)

Emerson also recommends that virtual charter schools be authorized by state authorizing entities, given that these schools usually end up serving students from all over a state. Among other things, this approach would remove the financial incentives and quality disincentives that exist for small districts to authorize large virtual charter schools. It’s a sensible recommendation, and one that we’ll be considering when we revisit our model law in the future.

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Will-Obama's-Budget-Recognize-Charter-Schools003F

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

President Obama will soon release his federal budget for 2014, and a top priority is likely to be early-childhood education, particularly for the poor. But will the proposal seek much funding for the growth of charter schools—at least more than the paltry 0.4% of federal education spending that currently supports these exciting and demonstrably successful schools?

Last month, the respected private firm Mathematica Policy Research published a multiyear study of students enrolled in KIPP (the Knowledge Is Power Program), a network of 125 charter schools serving 41,000 students in 20 states and the District of Columbia. The study found that after three years students in the KIPP program were 11 months ahead of their traditional-public-school peers in math and eight months ahead in reading. Also after three years (or four for some children in the study), KIPP students were 14 months ahead in science and 11 months ahead in social studies.

These gains are substantial. For every three (or four) years they spend in the program, KIPP students are benefiting from almost a full year of greater learning growth than they would if they remained in traditional public schools.

This success is even more remarkable given that KIPP draws from some of the most disadvantaged communities in the country. Some 96% of KIPP students are black or Hispanic. More than four of five come from households with annual incomes low enough to qualify for subsidized school lunch.

What's more, the typical incoming student at KIPP scores in the 45th percentile in district-wide reading and math exams. That initial achievement level is much lower than for the typical student entering the traditional public school system.

Other studies have found similar results. In a report released last month on charter schools in New York City, Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that after just one year, charter-school students had gained one more month of learning in reading and five more months in math, compared with their district-school peers. More than a fifth of New York's public charter schools post significantly larger learning gains in reading than do their traditional counterparts—and nearly two-thirds of charters outperform traditional schools in math.

KIPP runs 10 schools in New York City, but it also has competition. In 2012, 87% of students in the Uncommon Schools charter network—which operates 15 New York City schools serving 3,900 kids—scored advanced or proficient in math. That is 27 percentage points above the city average. In English, more than half of Uncommon's kids were advanced or proficient, beating the city average by eight percentage points.

What is the key to the success of schools like KIPP and Uncommon?

For starters, as independent public schools, charters aren't weighed down by onerous regulations that stifle innovation. Administrators and teachers have the freedom to develop new and creative teaching methods. Charter schools have also attracted a new generation of talented, motivated teachers, school leaders and entrepreneurs through the promise of a new approach to educating underserved children.

Policy makers should encourage such educational entrepreneurship. One way they can do so is by eliminating state caps on charter schools, which currently apply in 21 of the 43 states (including Washington, D.C.) that have charter laws. With over 600,000 students on waiting lists to attend charter schools nationwide, this should be an easy task.

Legislators at the state and federal levels should also strive to attract new entrepreneurs to the charter-school space. Schools like KIPP and Uncommon succeed in the cities where they operate, but other geographic areas may demand different approaches. The next great public charter school may deploy a digital learning model or a hybrid of several models. Officials should be open to such experimentation.

At the same time, all charters should be regularly and rigorously reviewed. Those that consistently fail to meet achievement standards should be closed.

The federal government, meanwhile, should make sure that charters receive their fair share of funding. The current pot reserved to finance startup, replication and expansion of charter operations has just $254 million in it, or less than 1% of federal education spending. That share should grow.

The data are in. Charters can—and do—deliver top-notch education even to the most disadvantaged of American students. The White House, Congress and policy makers in state capitals must do their part to support successful charters, promote their replication, and encourage new entrants to adapt their best practices.
Ms. Rees is the president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

A version of this article appeared March 27, 2013, on page A15 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Will Obama's Budget Recognize Charter Schools?. It was also published on The Wall Stree Journal online on March 26, 2013 here.
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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

News to Know

“U.S. Senators Introduce Amendment to Replicate High-Quality Charter Schools,” Chattanoogan, Mar. 22
“New Hampshire House Committee Votes to Retain Charter Schools Bill,” Sentinel Source, Mar. 21
“Op-ed: Remove Massachusetts’ Cap on Charters in High-Need Communities,” Commonwealth Magazine op-ed, Mar. 20
“Florida Senate Committee Discusses Charter School Bills,” Tampa Bay Times, Mar. 19
“In Texas, An Attempt to Expand Public Charter Schools,” New York Times, Mar. 18

Audience Favorites

Twitter—@charteralliance Op-ed: Remove Massachusetts’ Cap on Charters in High-Need Communities bit.ly/10iAWVs

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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NAPCS-Shares-Public-Charter-School-Knowledge-with-Thai-Delegation

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Members of the NAPCS staff facilitated a tour of Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy for a delegation of education reformers from Thailand. The Thai delegation, which included members of the government and academia, visited public charter schools in New York City and Washington, D.C. to learn more about autonomous school models. NAPCS took the delegation to the Cesar Chavez Prep campus, ranked in the top tier of public charter schools in D.C. according to the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board’s performance management framework. During the tour of the Chavez Prep campus, the delegation visited middle school classrooms and learned about their college prep curriculum that infuses civic knowledge, critical thinking skills, and experiential learning. The delegation was particularly interested in building school culture, community involvement, and the school-level decision-making freedom afforded through the public charter school model.

Following the tour, the delegation met with NAPCS staff members to discuss national education policy and public charter school history and performance. We were proud to engage in cross-cultural learning opportunities and share best practices in chartering from the school and national levels to inform Thailand’s education reform efforts.

Members of the Thai delegation pose questions to Chavez staff

Members of the Thai delegation, Chavez and National Alliance staff
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NACSA’s-“Index-of-Essential-Practices”-Is-a-Roadmap-for-Good-Authorizing

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) released its 2012 edition of the Index of Essential Practices, a tool to guide authorizer practice and self-evaluation.

With more public focus and urgency around improving quality in charter schools, the quality of authorizing is increasingly in the spotlight. The 12 practices outlined in the Index give a baseline for good authorizing. NACSA surveyed 157 active authorizers to determine the number of essential practices public charter school authorizers have implemented. The report found that only a small percentage of respondents have all 12 practices in place, but most are using at least nine. Authorizers who implement these practices can improve their authorizing, and in turn the quality of the schools they oversee. To read more about the Index, see here and here.

Image via NACSA website
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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Massachusetts Considers Eliminating Caps on Charter Schools,” Nina Rees (President & CEO) quoted in Wall Street Journal, Mar. 10

News to Know

“Rocketship to Open Eight Schools in Nashville,” Tennessean, Mar. 15
“Wisconsin Charter School Association In Favor of Governor’s Plan for Multiple Authorizers,” WUWM, Mar. 14
“Study: Median D.C. Charter School Outperforms Median Traditional School,” Washington Post, Mar. 13
“Chicago to Change School Funding Formula,” Chicago Tribune, Mar. 12
“Recent Pennsylvania Legislation Would Overhaul Charter School Funding,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mar. 11

Audience Favorites

Facebook—This year's National Charter Schools Conference has two great pre-conferences in the works: one for Dropout Recovery schools, and another for enhancing your STEM curriculum. Head to our website to learn more.

Twitter— @charteralliance Florida Charter School Students Outperform Traditional Public School Counterparts bit.ly/10wUDat

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Public-Charter-Schools-with-True-Autonomy-and-Accountability-Positively-Impact-Student-Achievement

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A recent thread in studies about public charter schools and student achievement is that broad analyses often mask the key features that explain why some charter schools outperform traditional public schools (TPS). A paper by Hiren Nisar from Abt Associates follows this idea by highlighting the impact of school autonomy on student performance. He finds that students in Milwaukee public charter schools that operate with more autonomy from traditional public school regulation (called non-instrumentality charter schools) outperform their counterparts in less-autonomous public charter schools (instrumentality charter schools) and traditional public schools.

In Milwaukee, both instrumentality and non-instrumentality schools have more budget and curricular flexibility than traditional public schools. However, there are key differences in operational autonomy: instrumentality public charter schools operate as a part of traditional school districts, they face little risk of closure, and they hire unionized teachers. When looking at achievement over all charter school students compared to TPS students, Nisar found little significant difference in performance. However, not all public charter schools are subject to the same policies, and those differences have significant impacts on student achievement levels.

Nisar breaks down these differences by examining how a school’s instrumentality status relates to students’ reading proficiency. He finds that “students at a non-instrumentality charter school would be reading at a grade higher from their counterparts in an instrumentality charter school in two years, and their counterparts in a TPS in three years.” He also finds that African-American students perform better in non-instrumentality charter schools than any other type of public school. When looking at low achieving students, he estimates that attending a public charter school of any type would eliminate the reading achievement gap in two years.

Aside from the encouraging empirical findings, there is a broader takeaway from Nisar’s paper – as he puts it, “the details of charter school policies matter.” In Milwaukee, public charter schools that operate autonomously from traditional school districts, and therefore face a greater risk of closure, perform better. As NAPCS President & CEO Nina Rees said, “The charter school idea is predicated on the notion that in exchange for autonomy and freedom from bureaucratic rules, schools would face closure if they fail to meet their academic goals.” The tradeoff of enjoying more autonomy for greater accountability in the form of school closures is a basic tenet of charter schools, as well as a keystone of the NACSA’s One Million Lives campaign. This paper offers a strong suggestion that autonomy and accountability for public charter schools are essential policies that go hand in hand with learning gains for students.

Image by Mike Di Sisti originally published in the Journal-Sentinel online Nov. 18, 2012

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Review-of-“Choices-0024-Challenges:-Charter-School-Performance-in-Perspective”

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Two decades after the first public charter school opened in Minnesota, and now that there are more than 6,000 public charter schools in operation, the timing is right for a comprehensive examination of the research on public charter schools. There have been a number of reviews of the research on academic performance studies (see the Betts & Tang meta-analysis and our own research synthesis), and NAPCS’s recent assessment shows that there is a positive trend in the performance of public charter schools demonstrated in high quality studies. But there is a great deal that we do not fully understand about why some charter schools are knocking it out of the ballpark, while others struggle. What are the mediating factors that create opportunities for public charter schools to perform well?

A new book from researchers Priscilla Wohlstetter, Joanna Smith, and Caitlin Farrell takes a deep dive into the large body of research on public charter schools, covering over 500 academic papers and reports—not just the academic performance studies—to compare how charter schools perform and operate relative to the goals initially set for them through legislation. The authors identified the following goals for public charter schools from a review of state charter laws:

Classroom goals:

Increase opportunities for teachers
Increase innovations in education programs
Increase student performance

School community goals:

Increase school autonomy
Increase opportunities for parent involvement
Increase school accountability

System goals:

Increase competition among public schools
Increase capacity of the K-12 education system
Increase student performance throughout education system

It is a solid framework for looking at the impact of public charter schools, specifically by assessing public charter schools through the lens of whether charter schools have achieved the legislative intent of the reform initiative. Overall, research suggests that public charter schools have lived up to most of the reform goals. Yet, the research does not reveal a secret sauce for public charter school success. Despite the 500 plus studies on public charter schools, the research is pretty lean in evaluating most of the goals. And given the fact that the sector has shifted towards a true acknowledgement of the importance of high quality authorizing and strong governance, there are other areas of research that need attention.

Beyond the call for more research, the book provides a nice discussion of the path public charter schools have taken as a reform initiative: from the early days of experimentation, to an era of expansion, to the current era of refinement. The final chapter includes reflection and commentary from five influential thinkers, including Jeffrey Henig (Teachers College, Columbia University), Paul Hill (Center for Reinventing Public Education, University of Washington), Bruno Manno (Walton Family Foundation, Deborah McGriff (NewSchools Venture Fund & NAPCS Board Member), and Charles Payne (University of Chicago), around the following questions:

In what ways, if any, have charter schools challenged the definition and boundaries of public education?
Across the levels of the system—classroom, school, district—where have charters succeeded? Where have they fallen short?
How is the relationship between charter and non-charter public school changing? How is the role of charters in the education sector as a whole evolving?
Most policies last ten to twenty years before being eclipsed by “the next big thing.” What does the charter sector have to do in the next five years to assure its future?

The last question should be on the minds of everyone involved in the public charter school sector.

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Public-Charter-Schools-and-Civics-Education

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

With the focus on mathematics and reading in the NCLB era of accountability, it may seem like other subject areas are overlooked. There’s particular concern about lack of attention to social studies, including civics, government, geography, economics, and history, and this assumption is not entirely wrong. Nationwide, one third or more of fourth and eighth graders were proficient in math and reading on the most recent NAEP, while only 27 percent of fourth graders and 22 percent of eighth graders were proficient in civics. And the Common Core State Standards may not improve the situation, since there are standards and skills for Language Arts literacy in history and social studies, but the standards do not apply to the social studies subject areas themselves. As one reporter put it, “Across the spectrum of corporate leaders, colleges, and education advocacy groups—those that have either built the accountability bandwagon, jumped aboard it, or criticized its dominance—the need to educate young people to become active participants in the nation’s political life is seldom mentioned.”

Over the last couple of years, a series of reports have focused attention on the teaching of civics education in public charter schools. The reports raise interesting questions about whether charter schools are doing anything different than traditional public schools, and whether charter schools can be laboratories of innovation for incorporating civics education back into schools. Two organizations have spearheaded the research on civics in charter schools: the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Center on Education Policy (CEP). Despite ideological differences between the two organizations, there is commonality in the belief that schools should teach civics in order to prepare students to be productive citizens:

AEI: “A resurgence in civics could stem—and perhaps even reverse… the polarization of U.S. politics and thus the paralysis of the government... If subpar academics in U.S. schools can cause economic problems, then couldn’t subpar civics education cause political problems?”
CEP: “It is often said that well-informed citizens are at the cornerstone of a strong democracy. Without even a basic knowledge of government, history and a citizen’s role in promoting and defending a robust democracy, individuals are hamstrung in understanding their own rights and the rights of others.”

So what did the studies find? In a January 2012 report, Strengthening the Civic Mission of Charter Schools, Robin Lake of the Center on Reinventing Public Education and AEI’s Cheryl Miller highlight the following:

There is not a common definition of civics education among public charter school leaders sampled; nor is there a common belief about why civics education and preparedness is important, the skills that need to be taught, or the teaching methods that work best. Charter leaders generally dislike traditional civics education resources, such as textbooks and curricula, and prefer to use civic activism to make civics education relevant to students.
The authors provide recommendations for charter school funders, authorizers, and advocacy groups that focus on ways that these groups can help charter schools improve civics education.

AEI followed-up the 2012 report with three case studies from public charter school networks that keep civics education at the heart of their educational practices:

Democracy Prep: The network’s motto is, “Work hard. Go to college. Change the world!” The network places civics education at the core of its mission by teaching students about the details of civics knowledge, as well as action-oriented civics skills.
National Heritage Academies: In National Heritage Academies, civics education is interpreted as moral and character education with the premise that good character leads to good citizens.
UNO Charter School Network: The UNO network of charter schools uses civics education to help with the assimilation and Americanization of the schools’ largely Latino and immigrant student population. UNO school leaders believe that the goal of the network is in creating “not just educated and engaged citizens, but educated and engaged American citizens.”

The recent CEP study, Civic Education and Charter Schools: Current Knowledge and Future Research Issues, examines the NAEP civics assessment to compare charter schools and traditional public schools on civics achievement and school instructional practices.

Overall, the study finds little difference in civics performance between students who attend charter schools and students who attend traditional public schools. There were a couple of differences, like 8th grade Hispanic students and male 12th graders in charter schools outperforming students in traditional public schools.
There were some differences in how civics education was taught in the two types of schools. A higher percentage of eighth grade charter students reported taking part in role play, mock trials, and dramas. Eighth graders and 12th graders in charter schools reported answering more questions daily about social studies than students in traditional public schools.
The study highlights the need for better data on student performance and the teaching of civics education.

Image via Google Images

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Florida-Charter-School-Students-Outperform-Traditional-Public-School-Counterparts

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A new report released by the Florida Department of Education this week shows charter schools are providing high-quality education options to families. Student Achievement in Florida's Charter Schools: A Comparison of the Performance of Charter School Students with Traditional Public School Students shows charter school children outperform their traditional public school counterparts in math, science and reading on state assessments.

Last year, Florida had a total of 518 charter schools serving 183,000 Florida students–more than seven percent of the state’s total public school population. According to our annual market share report, Miami-Dade and Broward County Public Schools ranked 6th and 10th, respectively, for the highest number of students enrolled in public charter schools. Hillsborough County Public Schools was 2nd in terms of the largest growth in the number of public charter school students enrolled.

According to the Florida Department of Education’s Achievement study:

Public charter schools had a higher percentage of students scoring at grade level or higher on the standardized FCAT 2.0 reading test than traditional schools at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Public charter school performance results were higher at the aggregated level and for each demographic subgroup breakout.
Public charter schools had a higher percentage of students scoring at grade level or higher on the FCAT 2.0 math test than traditional schools in elementary and middle school (high school was not tested). This held true for African-American, Hispanic and low-income students as well as those receiving Exceptional Student Education (ESE) and English Language Learners (ELL).
The achievement gap was smaller for charter school students in the 18 comparisons studied between white students and minority students in reading, math and science.

The report is part of a wave of recent studies showing positive public charter school performance, and it concludes “The ultimate proof of success for any charter school is the achievement of its students. The 2011-12 student achievement data demonstrate that charter schools offer parents and policy makers a viable option for improving education in the state.”

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Charters Are Providing Hope,” Nina Rees (President & CEO) letter to the editor of the New York Times, Mar. 3
“Broad Foundation Reveals How Top Public Charter School System Sends All Graduates to College,” Nina Rees quoted in PRNewswire press release, Mar. 5

News to Know

“Report: Florida Public Charter Schools Outperform Traditional Public Schools,” News-Press, Mar. 8
“Nine Named to Washington Charter Schools Commission, Herald Net, Mar. 7
“New Jersey Announces $125 Million to Support New Jersey Charter Schools,” New Jersey Newsroom, Mar. 6
“Number of Proposed North Carolina Charter Schools Hits Record High,” News & Observer, Mar. 5
“Letter: Charter Movement Shows ‘Signs of Bold Corrective Action,’” New York Times, Mar. 4

Audience Favorites

Facebook— We're so glad that Dr. Michael Lomax will be participating in our general session at the National Charter Schools Conference. Visitwww.publiccharters.org/conference for more information.
“Children deserve a good education now, not when education reform transforms all of public education. Charters offer parents those right-now choices.” –Dr. Michael Lomax

Twitter—@charteralliance: "School facilities shouldn't be a barrier to a quality education"-@gatesfoundation on loans for RI charter facilities bit.ly/YNrQv7

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Making-the-Most-of-the-National-Charter-Schools-Conference:-Five-Steps-to-Networking

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Yesterday I told you all about one of our focuses this year, educating tomorrow’s leaders. And today, I'd like to share some tips and tricks I’ve learned from attending a lot of conferences and seeing the National Charter Schools Conference grow over the past few years. With registration rates going up after midnight, I thought it’d be good to tell you a bit about the opportunities we’ve got for you. So, here we go—Jenny’s six steps to networking.

1. Establish Your Networking Goal

You would be amazed at how many people don’t have a goal when they network. You’ve come to a conference to learn something, right? Sometimes that thing can’t be found in the breakout sessions or from the keynotes. But you’re at an event with thousands of other people—surely some of them have been in your shoes! Possible networking goals might be:

Meeting someone who also runs the finance committee on their board
Learning how other schools schedule professional development days throughout the year
Finding a great example of a learning management system put to good use
Discovering what that state did to celebrate National Charter Schools Week

Keep your networking goal in mind the whole week, and make sure you’re trying to achieve it. Pro tip: Write one quick fact you learned from a person after getting their card. Especially if they helped you towards your goal!

2. Introduce Yourself

Going up to strangers and introducing yourself brings me the jitters, and I’m sure I’m not the only one! Jumping into a conversation doesn’t need to be stressful—keep a few things in mind:

Join conversations of 3 or more people so you know you aren’t interrupting something private
Go say "hi" to someone standing by themselves—they might be just as scared as you are!
Use your goal to introduce yourself: “Hi, I’m Jenny. Have any of you successfully networked at a conference before? Have any tips?”
Pin yourself to the elbow of a strong networker, and use him or her to pull you through the room

You know who are often great and experienced networkers? Our exhibitors! They always know a bunch of people and are super outgoing. Use them to help you navigate a crowd, and you’ll always go home with a pocketful of some great business cards. And while a good drink in hand always helps, be wary of doing the food and drink juggle! Always keep a hand open for shaking hands, and use a table if you’re going to be eating and drinking at the same time.

3. Take advantage of Different Networking Environments

At the National Charter Schools Conference, we provide a lot of different spaces and styles of networking so that you can achieve your goals. Here’s a quick run-down of what we have going this year:

Big, Formal Networking: This includes our welcome reception and happy hour with exhibitors. These opportunities are great for you to float around and meet people extremely different from you—learn about what’s going on in their worlds and be open and curious.
Mealtime Networking: Breakfast networking sessions, lunch breaks, dine-arounds in DC, people love to get together and share ideas over food. Sharing a table with someone instantly creates a sense of congeniality and relaxes the atmosphere. So don’t be a wallflower at lunch, find the busiest table, sit down, and say "hello!"
Breaks: I bet you didn’t know that we make the breaks between sessions a little longer so that you can meet people? Go out into the hallway and see who is loitering. Don’t beeline for the next room, take your time and introduce yourself to a couple of people instead.
Spaces: We’re excited to have the Steelcase Collaboration Lounge at this year’s conference, and the exhibit hall is always a place to go to meet up with people. Skip a session and go see who is around in these places. Sit down, strike up a conversation, and see what you learn.

4. The Pass-On

Sometimes you meet someone who can’t help you with your goal, but don’t despair! Find out what his or her goal is and do a pass-on. Find someone else who will benefit from meeting that person and make sure to provide an introduction. Even if you’re not interested in dropout recovery, maybe you know someone who is. And who knows? Maybe they’ll return the favor and connect you with exactly who you were looking for.

5. Follow-up

Definitely the hardest and most rarely done part of networking is the follow-up. You’ve gone home to your pile of business cards and now need to sort through them. Don’t just file them in your rolodex, cement those relationships! Pick the top ten most important contacts you made and send them a quick message thanking them for talking with you and saying how you’d love to keep in touch. And then, when you have a question that they might be able to help you with, send them an email! Or maybe you’ve met someone who would get along with a contact—make use of it and send that person along. Your network gets stronger through use, so make sure to exercise that muscle!

I hope to see you networking away at this year’s National Charter Schools Conference this summer. If you see me, make sure to introduce yourself and share your goal! Don’t forget that registration rates go up at midnight tonight, so head over to our site to sign up.

Click here for more information.

Educating-Tomorrow’s-Leaders:-Updates-from-the-National-Charter-Schools-Conference

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Planning for this year’s National Charter Schools Conference is underway, and I wanted to share my thoughts on one of the major topics of this year’s conference, educating tomorrow’s leaders. At midnight tomorrow, March 8th, the advance rate for the conference expires. You can register now to secure this lower rate.

Our conference theme is Delivering on the Dream, which speaks to all of our dreams for public charter schools, whether we’re teachers, advocates, school leaders, or support staff. For so many, the dream involves future leadership—students leading change, schools leading communities, and teachers leading schools. Thus, we have chosen educating tomorrow’s leaders as a major thread at the conference.

Keynote Panel

The three speakers at our keynote panel on July 1 have three distinct perspectives to lend to the topic of educating tomorrow’s leaders. After the success of last year’s panel, we decided that we had to have another intense, thought-provoking conversation this year. Dr. Michael Lomax, President and CEO of UNCF, brings to the table a deep understanding of how K-12 education feeds into college and sets students up with the habits of good leaders.

Leaders like Dr. Craig Barrett are far and few between. As former CEO of Intel, Dr. Barrett will be sharing with us the connections between education, leadership, and workforce preparedness. How can we make sure we are preparing students for healthy and productive lives?

It would be unfair to have this conversation without a strong, school-centered participant. And Ana Ponce, listed as one of Forbes Magazine’s “7 Most Powerful Educators,” has been creating leaders in L.A. for over a dozen years. If you have questions for this trio of great speakers, leave a comment below—we’ll try and get as many of your questions answered by this great panel!

Professional Development

All of our attendees are either current leaders or tomorrow’s leaders, which is why we’re putting a special emphasis on leadership training at this year’s conference. There will still be all the outstanding content related to public charter schools, but we’re adding a few sessions this year to help develop more leaders in our own community.

Sessions such as Strengthening Your Organization Through Strategic Planning: The Good, the Bad, and the Measured, led by Lisa Diaz and Marisol Logan, will prepare all attendees for the challenges of bringing an organization through change. Leadership Development and Sustainability: The Foundation of Successful, Stable Schools will walk you through steps to make both yourself and your teammates better leaders. What professional development goals do you have that the conference will help you achieve?

This is just a taste of some of the great things we have planned for this year’s conference! Don’t miss out on the lower rate for registration before March 8th, and keep an eye on both the blog and the conference homepage for more exciting updates about this year’s conference!

Click here for more information.

Report-Highlights-Practices-0024-Performance-of-Broad-Prize-for-Public-Charter-Schools-Winner

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The inaugural Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools was awarded to YES Prep Public Schools at the 2012 National Charter Schools Conference. The mission of YES Prep is to increase the number of low-income students in Houston who graduate from a four-year college. The network of schools was recognized for demonstrating “the most outstanding overall student performance and improvement among the country’s largest urban charter management organizations in recent years while reducing achievement gaps for poor and minority students.”

YES Prep received a $250,000 award from the Broad Foundation. Additionally, Broad committed to spend time in the YES Prep network of schools and to release a report describing their educational practices and performance. Here are key findings from the report:

72 percent of YES Prep alumni are currently enrolled in college or have earned a bachelor’s degree.
- Nationally, less than a quarter of low-income students complete college.
Of the 6,700 students in YES Prep’s 11 secondary schools in Houston, 95 percent are Hispanic or African-American, 80 percent are from low-income families, and more than 90 percent will be the first generation in their families to go to college.
7,000 students are on waiting lists to attend YES Prep charter schools.
YES Prep offers a course about college each year of high school, which instructs students on everything from SAT prep, to the financial aid process, to writing college application essays.
The network’s teachers stand out for their in-depth content knowledge, energy, and passion.
- While teachers nationally often report feeling disempowered in their jobs, those at YES Prep approach their work with an almost missionary zeal and see their dedication rewarded.
YES prep schools focus on character education, with character traits of successful college students, such as grit and tenacity, heavily emphasized. Community service is mandatory, and students take pride in giving back to their neighborhoods.
Instead of a comprehensive summer school, YES Prep focuses on giving students the sort of life experiences that affluent parents can afford for their children: they attend programs on college campuses, take trips in the wilderness, and travel the world.
Two full-time network staff members as well as YES Prep college counselors support alumni. Counselors conduct exit interviews with all YES Prep graduates to prioritize college-support services based on academic, social/ emotional and financial needs.

The details in the report provide lessons for other schools based on YES Prep’s success in defying the odds and creating outstanding learning environments for students.

Image of report cover via The Broad Prize website

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Letter-to-the-Editor:-'Charters-are-Providing-Hope'

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

To the Editor:

Re: “Better Charter Schools in New York City” (editorial, Feb. 23):

While rightly acknowledging the success of charter schools in New York City, you missed the mark in calling the national charter movement a “disappointment.” Interestingly, in 2011 you praised New Orleans, where 75 percent of all schools are now charters and the number of students attending a failing school is down threefold since Hurricane Katrina.

Whether they are 5 percent of public schools, as in New York, or 75 percent, as in New Orleans, charters schools are providing hope. In the last five years, the movement has added 1,700 schools and a million students. Another 610,000 are on wait lists.

The movement took the 2009 report by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford seriously. Since then, nearly 500 charters have closed. The center’s more recent research has found that charter students from low-income families are outperforming their traditional public school peers.

When you review the evidence, you will find what millions of parents already know: the charter movement is a resounding national success.

NINA REES
President and Chief Exec.,
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Washington, Feb. 24, 2013

This letter to the editor originally ran on the New York Times website, and was published on March 3, 2013.

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Public-Charter-School-Students-Outperforming-Peers-in-Massachusetts

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

It’s no surprise that there are 45,000 students on waiting lists to attend public charter schools in Massachusetts. Evidence of the positive impact of public charter schools in the state continues to grow. In a new study released by CREDO this week, public charter schools in Massachusetts demonstrated larger learning gains than similar traditional public schools in both math and reading. In reading, public charter students gained an additional one and half months per year over similar students in traditional public schools. In math, public charter students gained an additional two and a half months of additional learning per year over their peers. The results in Boston were even larger. Students attending public charter schools gained an entire additional year of learning for each year in a charter school in both math and reading, compared with similar students in traditional public schools. "The average growth rate of Boston charter students in math and reading is the largest CREDO has seen in any city or state thus far," said Edward Cremata, one of the study’s authors.

Results from the new study are consistent with previous research on public charter schools in Massachusetts and Boston (see the 2009 Harvard/MIT report, 2010 KIPP Lynn study, and 2011 urban vs. suburban study). Moreover, a working paper we wrote about last year showed that lifting the cap on charter schools in Boston would decrease achievement gaps. Overall, results from the body of research on public charter schools in Massachusetts support lifting the cap on charters in the state (see an argument for lifting the cap here).

Image via Massachusetts Charter Public School Association

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“California-based charter school system works to win over parents ahead of Memphis opening,” Todd Ziebarth (Sr. Vice President for State Advocacy) quoted in Memphis Commercial Appeal, Feb. 24

News to Know

“Charter Schools Bill Advances in Kentucky Senate,” Courier-Journal, Mar. 1
“Wisconsin Governor’s Plan Would Give Public Charter Schools More Autonomy,” Wisconsin State Journal, Feb. 28
“Mathematica 2013 Study: KIPP Charter School Students Outperform Public School Peers,” Huffington Post, Feb. 27
“Massachusetts Education Board Approves Three New Charter Schools,” Times-Union, Feb. 26
“Activists, Teachers Apply for Washington’s Charter School Commission,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Feb. 25

Audience Favorites

Facebook— Our President & CEO Nina Rees issued a statement on sequester: "There is no doubt that these drastic cuts will greatly harm our public education system, for public charter schools and traditional public schools alike."

Twitter— @charteralliance: @CREDOatStanford report finds that MA charter students gain more learning in a yr than district school peers bit.ly/ZMvo7r

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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A-Moment-of-Truth-for-the-No-Excuses-Public-Charter-Schools

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

An article by Robert Pondiscio in the Spring edition of Education Next looks at “no excuses” public charter school networks (CMOs) at a critical juncture. These networks stake their reputation on college-prep coursework and college acceptance rates, but is their focus actually translating into college completion? Now is the “put up, or shut up” moment for networks like KIPP, who has 1,000 former students in college in the 2012-13 school year. The number will surge to 10,000 KIPP graduates in colleges in just three academic years.

Schools like KIPP and YES Prep, who tout their graduates’ college acceptance rates, are also transparent about their struggle to boost college completion rates. The six-year college completion rate for KIPP middle school graduates is 33 percent. Despite YES Prep’s 100 percent college acceptance rate, their six-year college completion rate is 41 percent.

But true to their no excuses credo, these networks are aggressively forging ahead with ways to support their graduates through the uphill battle to a college degree. Besides academic preparedness, there are many obstacles to college success, ranging from difficulty completing financial aid forms to the myriad distractions that come with campus life. To address these issues, KIPP and other no excuses charter networks are forming partnerships with colleges which aim to demystify college life and create meaningful support networks for minority and first-generation college attendees. Additionally, character education emphasizing “grit” and perseverance is increasingly being incorporated into the charter school cultures. Even with the odds against them—only one out of every 12 low-income black and Hispanic students who are accepted to college earns a bachelor’s degree—the no excuses schools are sticking to their mantra.

KIPP classroom. San Francisco, California. © Allison V. Smith
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What-You-Need-to-Know-about-the-Sequester

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The Sequester: What You Need to Know
The sequester (across-the-board spending cuts) is scheduled to go into effect on Friday, March 1st. As authorized in the Budget Control Act of 2011, it requires $85.3 billion in cuts, evenly split between defense and discretionary programs. At this time, the U.S. Department of Education estimates that education programs will be cut by 5.1 percent.

Impact on Federal Education Funding
Since most federal education programs are forward-funded, the U.S. Department of Education does not expect these cuts to impact this school year (2012-2013). Any cuts would go into effect in July 2013, impacting the 2013-2014 school year. The one exception is the Impact Aid program, which compensates school districts that are located on land owned by the federal government. This program will face immediate cuts.

Will the Sequester Impact the CSP, Title I, Title III and IDEA funding?
Yes. Nearly all formula, new awards and continuation grants will be impacted. Only a handful of education and safety net programs that are exempt from the sequester, including:

Child Nutrition Programs: School Lunch, School Breakfast, Child and Adult Care Food
State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP)
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
Pell Grants
Medicaid
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

What’s Next?
On March 27th, the Continuing Resolution (CR) funding the federal government expires, and the CR must be renewed through the end of the fiscal year. If there are any proposals to “fix” the sequester, they will be rolled into the CR negotiations.

For a one-page summary of the sequester, please click here.

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New-Study-Shows-Positive-Performance-Results-for-KIPP-Middle-Schools

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

With the release of a new Mathematica study on KIPP middle schools today, there is even more evidence that KIPP middle schools are having a strong and meaningful impact on student performance. The new study builds on previous research commissioned by KIPP and conducted by Mathematica (see the studies released in 2010 and 2012) and finds positive and sizeable performance results in math, reading, science, and social studies. The table below shows results from the study. Effect sizes, comparing the performance of students in KIPP schools to matched students attending traditional public schools, range from 0.15 in the first year of a KIPP school to 0.31 by the school’s fourth year in math. In reading, the effect sizes range from 0.05 to 0.22. Compared with positive results from the 2010 Betts and Tang meta-analysis, KIPP middle schools in this study demonstrate even higher results in both math and reading. The science and social studies results are similarly large in magnitude, providing evidence that KIPP schools do not overlook other subject areas to focus on math and reading.

The Impact of KIPP Middle Schools on Student Performance

	Math	Reading	Science	Social Studies
KIPP Middle Schools
Effect Size in Year 1	0.15	0.05
Effect Size in Year 2	0.27	0.14
Effect Size in Year 3	0.36	0.21
Effect Size in Year 4	0.31	0.22
Effect Size in Highest Grade Tested	N/A	N/A	0.33	0.25
2010 Betts & Tang Meta-Analysis
Charter Middle School Effect Size	0.18	0.07
KIPP Effect Size	0.22	0.10

The effect sizes translate into real learning gains for students who attend KIPP middle schools. For example, the math effect size of 0.31 for students in their fourth year at a KIPP school is equivalent to those student receiving 11 additional months of learning compared to their peers attending traditional public schools. The math effect size is equivalent to a KIPP student moving from the 44th percentile to the 58th percentile. And perhaps most compelling, the math effect size means that KIPP schools reduced the achievement gap between white and black students by 40 percent.

How to Interpret the KIPP Middle School Effect Sizes?

	Math	Reading	Science	Social Studies
KIPP Effect Size	0.31	0.22	0.33	0.25
Additional months of learning in KIPP schools	11 months	8 months	14 months	11 months
KIPP Percentile Gain	44^th → 58^th percentile	46^th → 55^th percentile	36^th → 49^th percentile	39^th → 49^th percentile
KIPP % Reduction in White-Black Gap	40%	26%	33%	33%

The study examines the characteristics of students attending KIPP middle schools and finds little evidence that KIPP schools cream students based on performance, poverty, or race. And similar to results from the KIPP study on attrition, this study finds that attrition rates for KIPP schools are the same as comparison traditional public schools.

While the study shows positive impacts for KIPP schools, it also points to the need for further research. KIPP schools are demonstrating significant academic performance outcomes, but it is still an open question as to what operational factors make KIPP schools high performing, whether the substantial positive impacts can be sustained as KIPP schools expand, and whether the performance results will equate to long-term impacts for students as they enter college. Mathematica will continue to examine KIPP schools and address some of these issues in future reports. It is heartening to see an organization like KIPP invest in extensive and transparent research to better understand how the schools function and serve students. Knowing that KIPP schools outperform comparison traditional public schools is one thing. Understanding why KIPP schools outperform is critical to determining whether the model can lead to improvements throughout the public education system.

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Commissions-Highlights-need-for-Equitable-Public-Charter-School-Funding

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The Equity and Excellence Commission, established by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, was charged with collecting data, analyzing issues and obtaining broad public input regarding how the federal government can increase educational opportunity by improving school funding equity. The report For Each and Every Child was released on February 19th, and it highlighted the value of public charter schools in providing a high-quality education for all children, particularly those from low-income communities.

We agree with a number of the Commission’s key findings, particularly its call for public charter schools, and all public schools of choice, to receive equitable funding. The most recent study on charter school finances suggests that charter schools receive approximately 20 percent less funding than their traditional public school counterparts.

We are also pleased the Commission acknowledges that public charter schools have succeeded in providing choice to families, and serve a high number of students in low-income communities and communities of color. As we have previously noted, public charter schools across the nation enroll a greater percentage of low-income students than traditional public schools (46 percent versus 41 percent), black and Latino students (27 percent versus 15 percent and 26 percent versus 22 percent, respectively), and students who perform lower on standardized tests before transferring to public charter schools.

The Commission notes that some of the best schools for disadvantaged students are charter schools, but raises concerns about the inconsistency of student performance across all charter schools. The quality of charter schools is improving, and we expect student performance will continue to rise. The latest research shows that students in charter schools are increasingly outperforming their traditional public school peers. This is not because charter schools skim the best and the brightest from public schools. In fact, the highest quality research shows that students in charters outperform their peers who applied to a charter but were not chosen in the randomized lottery.

NAPCS will continue to advocate for the growth of high-quality charter schools, and for equitable federal, state, and local funding for all schools.
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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

News to Know

“Idaho House Bill Would Help Fund Charter Facilities,” Idaho State Journal, Feb. 22
“In D.C., Public Preschool Already the Norm,” Washington Post, Feb. 21
“Texas Bill Could Be Most Important Change to Charter Law Since 1995,” Austin American-Statesman, Feb. 20
“Wisconsin Governor Proposes Statewide Charter Authorizer,” Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Feb. 19

Audience Favorites

Facebook— Great opportunity for K-12 teachers: Hilton HHonors™ is giving teachers a passport to see the world and bring their experiences back to the classroom through Teacher Treks. Learn more and submit your grant application at www.hhonors.com/TeacherTreks

Twitter— @annanicotera: @CREDOatStanford Releases New Study Finding Positive Performance of New York City #Charter Schools bit.ly/WWEFHl

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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CREDO-Releases-New-Study-Finding-Positive-Performance-of-New-York-City-Charter-Schools

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

CREDO released an updated study of public charter schools in New York City today. The new study adds two years of performance data to the study released in 2010, and finds that on average public charter schools in NYC continue to outperform traditional public schools (TPS). The study presents data for all public charter schools in NYC, and then a separate set of analyses for public charter schools in Harlem where 23 percent of charter school students attend school. According to the study:

Based on the findings presented here, the typical student in New York City charter schools gains more learning in a year than his TPS counterparts, amounting to one month of additional gains in reading and five months in math. The learning advantage in Harlem equates to less than a full month of additional learning in reading but an additional seven months of progress in math.

The research on the performance of charter schools by CREDO has been on a roll of late, with a new and largely positive study being released nearly every month. These latest findings for NYC are consistent with positive overall results reported in Indiana, New Jersey, Michigan, and for charter school management organizations.

The figure below presents math and reading results from the NYC study for some of the relevant school breakouts. In general, the effect sizes for math are larger than effect sizes for reading in each of the categories. Compared with traditional public schools, students in public charter schools experience larger effect sizes in nearly every category, except for reading in the first year of a charter school and charter schools with multi-level grade configurations.

Source: CREDO. (2013). Charter school performance in New York City. Stanford, CA: Author.

While the overall results in NYC are promising, the study found that the distribution of public charter schools that perform better than traditional public schools looks better in math than in reading, as demonstrated in the figure below. Over 60 percent of NYC charter schools perform significantly better in math than matched traditional public schools, whereas only 20 percent of charter schools perform better in reading. Over 50 percent of charter schools perform as well as traditional public schools in reading, but there is room for improvement in these schools.

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Presidential-Quotes-on-Public-Charter-Schools-and-U.S.-Education

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

In honor of Presidents' Day, here is a collection of our favorite quotes from our current and past Presidents about the importance of education in our nation.

“Whether created by parents and teachers or community and civic leaders, charter schools serve as incubators of innovation in neighborhoods across our country. These institutions give educators the freedom to cultivate new teaching models and develop creative methods to meet students' needs. This unique flexibility is matched by strong accountability and high standards, so underperforming charter schools can be closed, while those that consistently help students succeed can serve as models of reform for other public schools. In an economy where knowledge is our most valuable asset, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity -- it is an imperative. Our children only get one chance at an education, and charter schools demonstrate what is possible when States, communities, teachers, parents, and students work together.” —Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States

"Charter schools encourage educational entrepreneurs to try innovative methods. They break up the monopoly of one-size-fits-all education. These diverse, creative schools are proof that parents from all walks of life are willing to challenge the status quo if it means a better education for their children. More competition and more choices for parents and students will raise the bar for everyone." —George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States

"The idea behind charter schools is that not all kids are the same—they have different needs; they have different environments—but there is a certain common level of education that all kids need, no matter how different they are, and that it would be a good thing to allow schools to be developed which had a clear mission, which could reach out to kids who wanted to be a part of that mission, who could achieve educational excellence for children who otherwise might be left behind..." —Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States

"Think about every problem, every challenge, we face. The solution to each starts with education." —George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States

"Education is not a problem. Education is an opportunity." —Lyndon Johnson, 36th President of the United States

"Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation." —John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States

"We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future." —Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States

"Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in. That everyone may receive at least a moderate education appears to be an objective of vital importance." —Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States

"Learned institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty." —James Madison, 4th President of the United States

"The best means of forming a manly, virtuous, and happy people will be found in the right education of youth. Without this foundation, every other means, in my opinion, must fail." —George Washington, 1st President of the United States

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Public-Charter-Schools-Provide-Real-Options-for-2.3-Million-Children

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

A recent article by Stephanie Simon in Reuters, highlights a number of charter schools that appear to be engaged in selective enrollment practices. If there are charter schools violating the state and local statutes governing admissions and enrollment, we want to know about it, the overseeing authorities should investigate, and the practices should be corrected. Procedures that place a burden on kids and parents who want to enroll in a charter school are contrary to the spirit of the charter school movement. While every charter school (or traditional public school) may not be the best educational setting for a particular child, charter school operators should not create high barriers to entry, and parents should be the ones to make the ultimate choices for their children.

But we should not lose sight of the proverbial forest amidst the trees. There are thousands of high-quality charter schools that admit students by lottery, they serve an extremely diverse population, and they produce high-achieving students. Let’s consider each of these points in more detail.

First, there are over 6,000 charters schools, in 40 States and DC, serving 2.3 million students. The majority of the schools are over-subscribed, meaning they have to rely on randomized lotteries for admissions. Last year, more than 600,000 students were not admitted to charter schools because they were not selected in these lotteries.

Second, the public charter school movement is predominantly opening schools in communities with high concentrations of low-income students of color and low-performing district schools, focused on closing the nation's persistent academic achievement gap. As a result, public charter schools across the nation enroll a greater percentage of low-income students than traditional public schools (46 percent versus 41 percent), black and Latino students (27 percent versus 15 percent and 26 percent versus 22 percent, respectively), and students who perform lower on standardized tests before transferring to public charter schools.

Third, students in charter schools are increasingly outperforming their traditional public school peers. This is not simply a function of charter schools skimming the best and the brightest from public schools. Randomized field tests show that students in charters outperform their peers who applied to a charter but were not chosen in the randomized lottery. In other words, regardless of the motivations of the families who are drawn to charter schools, these schools are able to raise the academic achievement of their students. They do this by stretching the school day and the school year, providing individualized student support, and by attracting teachers who are empowered to do what’s right by their students.

In an ideal world, every parent who wanted to send their child to a charter school would be able to do so. Perhaps unwittingly, the Reuters article underscores the popularity of charter schools and why more are needed. Indeed, that would be a great subject for another article, and we would welcome the opportunity to work with Ms. Simon on just such an article.

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Utah’s Charter Law Drops in Ranking Due to Other States’ Improvement,” NAPCS Model Law report cited in KSL, Feb. 12
“Growth of Charter Schools in D.C. Continues,” Nina Rees (President & CEO) quoted in Washington Post, Feb. 10
“State Ranks High in Charter Schools,” Nina Rees and Todd Ziebarth (Sr. Vice President for State Advocacy) quoted in American Press editorial, Feb. 9

News to Know

“Bloomberg Gives Final State of the City Address,” Wall Street Journal, Feb. 15
“Bill Seeks to Expand Oversight of Arizona Charters,” Arizona Republic, Feb. 14
“PBS Series to Profile Charter School Success Stories,” San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 13
“Report: Cities Have Hundreds of Empty Schools for Sale,” Washington Post, Feb. 12
“D.C.'s Doing Something Right: Number of Kids in Public Schools Keeps Rising,” Education Week’s Policy Notebook blog, Feb. 11

Audience Favorites

Facebook— The producers of Breakthroughs with Martin Sheen announced a new report series on success stories inside public charter school education, which are set to air this March. In an upcoming report, educators tell their stories about how public charter schools are giving students different ways to learn that are producing results in test scores and eventually college acceptance statistics.

Twitter— @annanicotera New research tackles question: are #charters more likely to push-out low-performing students? The short answer is no. bit.ly/12GlGnM

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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NAPCS-Valentine

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

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NAPCS-President-Responds-to-SOTU-Address

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Though President Obama's State of the Union (SOTU) Address did not focus on charter schools, he highlighted two initiatives that stand to greatly benefit public charter schools: a partnership with states to encourage access to high-quality preschool and a Race to the Top program aimed at upgrading the quality of high school curricula by focusing on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The benefits of high-quality early-childhood education are indisputable. A study by the Federal Reserve shows that high-quality early childhood education can generate a total benefit cost-ratio of $17 for every dollar invested. No education program shows such a significant return on investment.

During his campaign for President in 2008, Obama proposed a $10 billion, 10-year investment in high-quality early-childhood education. But other than his Early Learning Challenge grant initiative (which is a fraction of this amount), the Administration has not been able to find the funds to support this effort. Public charter schools such as the Apple Tree Institute for Early Learning in Washington, D.C. provide examples of the innovations that the charter school movement can unleash when offered the funds to start Pre-K instruction (D.C. is one of the few states that offers universal access to Pre-K). The sooner students are exposed to a robust early care and education program, the greater their chances are to start school ready to learn. In fact, I hope that the Administration will start to talk about school readiness with the same sense of urgency as its call for college and career readiness.

As for his high school initiative, public charter schools have been at the forefront of developing partnerships with colleges and employers and many, like BASIS charter schools from Arizona, are specifically designed to introduce students to the field of STEM (starting in elementary school). These are welcome efforts, but to bring the focus on STEM to life, the Administration needs to promote a more comprehensive digital initiative aimed at giving students access to high-quality STEM education through technology. Otherwise, it is not clear where we will be able to find the teachers to support this initiative. Here again, online charter schools, such as Connections Academy, provide examples of cost-effective ways to offer high-quality content to thousands of students. These programs help students gain the necessary skills for the future.

The public charter school sector looks forward to working with the Administration to amplify both of these initiatives in the coming years.

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Research-Suggests-that-Public-Charter-Schools-Do-Not-Push-Out-Low-Performing-Students

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

There is an argument propagated by charter school critics that public charter schools systematically push out low-performing students. While critics do not provide evidence of specific examples of charter school policies that explicitly push out students, the hypothesis underlying the argument is that there are subtle policies—such as strict discipline and attendance rules, retention if students are not performing at grade-level, or expectations for parent involvement—that effectively counsel out hard-to-educate students. Moreover, critics contend that charter schools are under intense pressure to perform well, which may provide incentives to find ways to attract high performing students and to discourage low-performing students from staying. (However, traditional public schools face similar accountability pressures and may theoretically advise low-performing students to transfer to schools of choice in the district.)

A recent study of KIPP charter schools challenged the notion that there is more student attrition out of KIPP schools or that attrition explains higher levels of academic performance in the schools. Now, a new working paper by Ron Zimmer and Cassandra Guarino provides additional evidence that public charter schools are not pushing out low-performing students. The study examined patterns of student transfers in an anonymous school district with over 60 charter schools. A larger percentage of charter schools in the district met AYP compared with traditional public schools, making the district a good case study for examining whether charter schools were pushing out low-performing students in order to meet federal accountability standards.

The study finds no evidence that public charter schools were more likely to push out low-performing students. Conversely, the study finds that below-average students were five percent more likely to leave traditional public schools than below-average students in charter schools. The authors write, “In looking at different groups of charter schools (i.e., charter schools near AYP proficiency thresholds, low- and high-performing schools, primary and secondary schools), we generally find no evidence consistent with the claim of pushing out low-performing students.”

Even though the study provides evidence for only one school district, it is a good example of the empirical research needed to determine whether the persistent critiques of public charter schools are accurate.

Image via flickr

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Minnesota’s Charter Law Ranked No. 1,” NAPCS model law report cited in Forest Lake Times, Feb. 7
“Critics of Montana’s public schools press lawmakers for options,” Lisa Grover (Sr. Director of State Advocacy) quoted, Laurel Outlook, Feb. 6
“Idaho’s Charter School Law Could Be Revamped Soon,” NAPCS model law report cited in Idaho Statesman, Feb. 4
“Florida praised for support of charter schools,” Nina Rees (President & CEO) and Todd Ziebarth (Sr. Vice President for State Advocacy) quoted on NAPCS model law, Pinnellas News, Feb. 3
“Maine comes in second in 2013 rankings of state charter laws,” Nina Rees and Todd Ziebarth quoted on NAPCS model law, St. John Valley Times, Feb. 3

News to Know

“The Demographic Power Behind Effective Charter Schools,”National Journal, Feb. 8
“D.C. Public Charter School Enrollment Outpaces School District, Washington Post, Feb. 7
“Maine Approves Two More Public Charter Schools,” Bangor Daily News, Feb. 6
“Texas Judge Rules Public School Funding Unconstitutional, Except for Charters,” Washington Post, Feb. 5
“Charter School Growth Fund Paying Off, Study Says,” Education Week’s Marketplace K-12 blog, Feb. 4

Audience Favorites

Facebook— In a recent CBS Evening News segment, Sci Academy senior Simone Smith was asked what it meant to be able to pick her public charter high school. Smith replied, "It meant everything. I don't think I would be here if I wasn't able to pick the high school that I wanted to go to. Because I don't feel like you can be truly educated without having a choice. I think having a choice is kind of education."

Twitter—@KendallMassett Great time learning with my @charteralliance Master's Class colleagues! pic.twitter.com/9Dkne3V7

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Ohio's-charter-law-remains-a-laggard

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Ohio’s charter law remains mediocre despite numerous reform efforts over the last decade. According to the latest “Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of the State Charter School Laws” produced by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) the Buckeye State’s charter school law ranks 27 out of 43 states and the District of Columbia.

NAPCS ranks state laws based on two primary factors: 1) the freedoms and flexibilities state laws provide charter operators; and 2) the quality of accountability provisions for both charter school operators and authorizers. There are 20 Essential Components of the NAPCS rankings and these range from freedoms such as “No Caps on Charters,” “Automatic Collective Bargaining Exemptions,” and “Equitable Operational Funding” to accountability measures such as “Authorizer and Overall Program Accountability” and “Clear Processes for Renewal, Nonrenewal and Revocation Decisions.”

Ohio has made some progress – and this is reflected in the NAPCS state rating of Ohio inching up from #28 last year to #27 this year. But, other states are making progress faster. Big charter states, those that have at least 4.5% of their students enrolled in public charter schools, that have made steady progress and improvements to their laws in recent years include number one ranked Minnesota (with 4.7% of students in charters), number four Colorado (with 9.8% of students in charters), number five Florida (with 6.8% of students in charters), number six Louisiana (with 6.4% of students in charters) and number seven California (with 6.7% of students in charters).

These states are serving hundreds of thousands of students under state laws that are superior to Ohio’s in both allowing charter freedoms and ensuring charter performance. Louisiana, for example, jumped from #13 to #6 due to significant enhancements in its laws, such as strengthening the authorizing environment and increasing charter school autonomy. While South Carolina leapt from #25 to #12 because of improved laws related to better authorizing.

The NAPCS rankings make clear that Ohio’s lawmakers can do better by its 113,000 charter school students, while setting the conditions for better charter schools and opportunities for more kids in need of better schools in the future. Specifically, legislative leaders in Ohio can help promote charter school quality by crafting policies that ensure would-be school operators are carefully vetted in advance of opening; that all schools are thoroughly monitored by responsible authorities for their academic performance; and that poor performers exit the market in a timely fashion.

Failed schools should not be able to skirt academic accountability; whether they are traditional district schools, virtual charter schools or charter schools operated either by for-profit management companies or nonprofit ones. But, in return for performance, successful charters should receive equitable funding. Charters in Ohio, on average, receive about $2,200 less funding per pupil than traditional district schools. This disparity is due in large part to charter schools’ lack of access to local revenues and facilities funding. Successful charters should also be able to replicate their successes through innovations like multi-school charter contracts and multi-charter contract boards. If, for example, a high quality charter school board can successfully oversee ten or even 15 great charters in a city there should be no laws preventing this from happening, but there currently is in the Buckeye State.

The states with the best charter schools also have the strongest charter school laws. According to Nina Rees, President and CEO of NAPCS, the national charter school association release their annual rankings so they “can be used by charter school supporters to help them push for laws that support the creation of high-quality public charter schools, particularly those students most in need of a better school option.” Ohio can and should learn from other states when it comes to improving charter school policies and NAPCS makes this easy to do with their rankings and model law. It is smart policy to build on the lessons of higher-performing charter states.

This blog originally ran on the Ohio Gadfly Daily on January 30, 2013.

Click here for more information.

Washington-Moves-From-Laggard-to-Leader

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This week, The Charter Blog will feature guest posts from state charter support organizations capturing their reaction to their state's ranking on the 20 essential components from the NAPCS model law (see Massachusetts).

In its first year of competing in the race for best charter school law, Washington won a bronze medal! On behalf of the coalition that wrote the initiative and campaigned for its passage, we are proud and pleased that the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has given our law a prestigious #3 ranking.

After four prior ballot box losses, Washington voters approved our first charter school law last November. Being 20 years late to the party gave us some clear advantages. We knew that strong authorizing, oversight and accountability would lead to better schools, so we looked to the Alliance’s model law for guidance.

Washington’s law creates a state commission, allows multiple authorizers, and is well aligned with the model law’s quality control components. It also provides operational autonomy to charter schools. The WA law specifically references the National Association of Charter School Authorizer’s principles and standards for quality authorizing. Washington started with a cap on the number of charter schools because we want to lead with quality.

Now the real work begins to ensure that we open 40 great charter schools over five years, serving the kids most in need of better educational opportunities.

Click here for more information.

Massachusetts-Community-and-Business-Leaders-Seek-to-Lift-Charter-Caps

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This week, The Charter Blog will feature guest posts from state charter support organizations capturing their reaction to their state's ranking on the 20 essential components from the NAPCS model law.

Massachusetts has enjoyed a period of unprecedented expansion of charter public schools as a result of a 2010 education reform law that allowed charters to double the number of seats they can offer children in the state's lowest performing districts. So you would think its ranking against other states would have risen in the latest NAPCS survey of how state laws support charters. But several states leap-frogged past Massachusetts making more aggressive changes to their laws promoting charter expansion and providing financial support.

Massachusetts' ranking fell from 5th to 11th. The 2010 law approved a "limited" cap lift and the new seats were quickly taken up. Right now, more than half of the 29 districts that rank in the bottom 10 percent academically are either at the cap or have room for only one more charter school. These include large cities and towns like Boston, Holyoke, Lawrence, Lowell, Chelsea, and Randolph, and several smaller communities in Central and Western Massachusetts. Meanwhile charter wait lists have grown to 45,000 students.

The study points out potential room for improvement in state law, including removing the state’s caps on charter school growth and ensuring equitable operational funding and equitable access to capital funding and facilities. These two issues are the focus of a legislative campaign launched by charter public school advocates, local business leaders and legislators. The legislation would eliminate all charter caps in underperforming districts and create more room to open new charters all across the state. The bill would also address underfunding of charter facilities by requiring cities and towns to offer charter school operators the opportunity to purchase or lease unused municipal buildings. The coalition is also seeking increased state support for charters facilities in the state budget. This legislation is part of a comprehensive effort to build on the state’s two-decade-old education reform effort raising academic standards, strengthening accountability and increasing parental choice.

Charter public schools are among the highest performing schools in Massachusetts, and have been successful at narrowing race and income-based achievement gaps. The vast majority of charters post higher standardized MCAS test scores compared to their district counterparts, and many urban charters, which educate mostly minority and/or low-income students, outscore even affluent suburban schools. In fact, twenty-four charters ranked #1 in the state on various MCAS and academic improvement rankings.

For the past twenty years, charter schools have proven that they are a high-quality, valuable option for families across the state. If the legislature fails to act on this bill, families from many of the state's neediest communities will be frozen out. It’s time to lift the cap and give these children the academic opportunities they need to successfully prepare for their futures.

Click here for more information.

Media-Round-Up

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News
This week, NAPCS released its 4th annual model law rankings. The report received over 42 media placements, and Nina Rees (President & CEO) and Todd Ziebarth (Senior VP of State Advocacy) were frequently quoted. Some of the media coverage of the model law report includes:

Education Week’s Charters & Choice blog, EdNews Colorado, WDEL, Minnesota Public Radio, KAAL-TV, MinnPost, Daily Herald, Pueblo Chieftain, Sun-Sentinel, WFSU, State Impact, NewsChief, Times-Picayune, Advocate, EdSource, Post and Courier, MLive, Atlanta Business Chronicle, KLAS-TV, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, CityWire, Boise State Public Radio, WPRI, Virginia Business, MarketWatch, Seattle Weekly, Advocate, Union Leader, Post and Courier, Clarion Ledger

News to Know

“Charters' Path to Success or Failure Set Early, Study Finds,” Education Week’s Charters & Choice blog, Feb. 1st
"Most New Jersey Charter School Facilities Outdated, Analysis Finds,” Star Ledger, Jan. 31
“Former Florida Governor Urges Independent Authorizer for Arkansas,” NWA Online, Jan. 30
“Texas Charter Schools Say Their Smaller Share of State Aid is Unconstitutional,” Austin American-Statesman, Jan. 29
“National School Choice Week to Include 3,500 Events in 50 States,” Education Week’s “Charters & Choice” blog, Jan. 28

Audience Favorites

Facebook— Photo Album: National School Choice Week Celebration in Wyoming.

Twitter—Today we released our 2013 annual rankings of state charter school laws. How did your state measure up? bit.ly/Wresj7

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Public-Charter-Schools-for-Montana

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Montana is one of the eight states that still does not allow public charter schools, but we've been working to change that. On January 30th, legislation to establish public charter schools had a fair and tough hearing in House Education Committee. Thanks to one of the bill's sponsors, Senator John Windy Boy, from the Chippewa Nation, for testifying on how charter schools could help children from the tribe learn their native language.

Pictured: Lisa Grover, NAPCS Sr. Director of State Advocacy, and Montana Senator John Windy Boy
Click here for more information.

National-School-Choice-Week-Whistle-Stops:-Buffalo,-Rochester-and-Albany,-New-York

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

National-School-Choice-Week-Whistle-Stops:-Toledo-and-Cleveland,-OH

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This week, the Charter Blog will follow the National School Choice Week whistle stop tour—profiling public charter school facts along the tour route (see previous stops Topeka/Kansas City, Chicago, and Indianapolis/Milwaukee).

Today’s stops on the National School Choice Week (NSCW) whistle stop tour are Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio. Ohio is ranked 27th (out of 43) on our model law, a one-place increase from 2012. A blog by the Ohio Gadfly gives further context about what the model law ranking means for Ohio. Several Ohio cities rank on our market share report as well: Cleveland is 6th, Dayton at 7th, and Toledo and Youngstown are part of a tie for 8th largest public charter school market shares in the country.

In terms of charter school policy, the Ohio Association of Public Charter Schools (OAPCS) has been a force behind creating more collaboration between traditional and charter public schools. OAPCS President Bill Sims calls collaboration “a force multiplier when it comes to innovation.” In that spirit, OAPCS, NAPCS and other charter organizations joined together to host the second National Best Cooperative Practices between Charter & Traditional Public Schools Conference.

The Cleveland Plan will be a major test of complete collaboration between the district and charters to revitalize public education in Cleveland. Now the Columbus City Schools are exploring ways for the district and charters to work together. It is about building relationships of trust, but when the goal is the best outcomes and opportunities for kids, these collaborations seem to take hold.

Click here for more information.

National-School-Choice-Week-Whistle-Stops:-Indianapolis-0024-Milwaukee

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This week, the Charter Blog will follow the National School Choice Week whistle stop tour—profiling public charter school facts along the tour route (see previous stops Kansas/Missouri and Chicago).

Today’s stops on the National School Choice Week (NSCW) whistle stop tour are South Bend, Indiana and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Indiana has one of the top 10 best public charter school laws (9th out of 43) according to our model law rankings. It also has a growing charter school market, with Gary tied for the fifth largest market share in the country, and Indianapolis tied for the eight largest market share. Additionally, Indiana charter schools are showing performance results. The findings of a recent CREDO report titled Charter Performance in Indiana show that “compared to the educational gains that charter students would have had in a traditional public school, the analysis shows that the typical charter school student in Indiana makes larger learning gains in both reading and mathematics.” This report is part of a decidedly upward trend in research on charter school performance.

The charter school picture in Wisconsin is a bit less sunny. Wisconsin’s charter law ranks 37th out of 43 according to our model law rankings and “needs a major overhaul in several areas.” Milwaukee is tied for the tenth largest national market share. A recent study examined whether the presence of charter schools in Milwaukee had an impact on student performance in traditional public schools and found that charter schools authorized by a non-school district entity appeared to positively impact student performance in traditional public schools.

Click here for more information.

New-Study-from-CREDO-on-Public-Charter-School-Growth,-Expansion,-and-Impact

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

CREDO released a new two volume study today titled Charter School Growth and Expansion. The title actually masks the ambitious range of research questions tackled and important findings presented. Though the study presents data on patterns of growth and expansion in the charter sector, with particular attention given to networks of schools, the report is solidly about public charter school quality. And the results suggest that what we thought about when quality determinations should be made within the life cycle of charter schools may have been wrong.

Before getting to what will likely be the most talked about aspect of the new CREDO study—the ranking of individual networks, specifically the (perhaps surprising) negative results for some well-known networks—I want to address the paradigm shift this study brings about in terms of thinking about charter school quality.

There has been a widely held belief that it could take several years for new charter schools to get their sea legs, and as a result we should not expect high levels of performance for the first couple of years of a charter school’s existence. In other words, if given time, charter school performance would increase, even for the low-performing or average school. Moreover, there is a body of research that confirmed this theory. These studies examined the question by comparing the performance of “mature” charter schools with “newer” charter schools, or even the same school at different points in time, and found that charter schools in later years performed better than new schools. However, what these studies overlooked, and what the CREDO study points out, is that the models did not control for schools closing due to low-performance (or the results of low-performance, such as low-enrollment) or more importantly, examine whether early performance predicted later performance.

The CREDO study shifts the research question from looking at average performance for charter schools based on the number of years open, to examining whether charter school performance in the first one or two years of operation predicts performance up to five years after opening. The short answer is that early performance of charter schools almost entirely predicts future performance. In other words, if a charter school starts out low-performing, it has a very slim chance of making improvements. This is sobering but important information about what we can expect from charter school performance.

Fortunately, there are bright sides to the initial quality story. There are public charter schools that hit the ground running and are top performers in their states in the first years of operation. Moreover, about two thirds of the schools that replicate are in the top 40 percent of school performance. So, in many cases, the right schools, in terms of performance outcomes, are being selected for replication.

And perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising, despite earlier research and what we may have wanted to believe about the unsteadiness of new schools. CREDO lays out a theory of action that suggests that school culture, norms, and behavior are set early, and not only are these school structures and processes indicative of school performance, they are really difficult to change. But if the norms and behaviors are good, the school will continue to have success.

Now to the flashier portion of the study—the performance of networks of charter schools. CREDO redefines how we understand networks of charter schools. They define CMOs as networks of three or more charter schools where the CMO holds the charter. Unlike previous definitions of CMOs and EMOs, CMOs in this study include both non-profit and for-profit management organizations. CREDO defines EMOs as organizations that secure contractual agreements from governing boards to operate schools, and they too can be non-profit or for-profit. By this definition, CMOs could contract with EMOs to operate schools, and several do. CREDO also creates a new category of network, the “super network,” to classify the unique structure of KIPP and a couple of other management organizations, which operate as a federation of independent networks under the umbrella of a larger national manager.

CREDO compares the results for CMOs and non-CMOs are to traditional public schools. Overall, the findings are mixed. In math, both CMOs and non-CMOs perform worse than traditional public schools. In reading, the two sets of charter schools perform better. In math, non-CMOs perform worse than CMOs, but in reading they perform better. The findings are much more varied by state, and the breakouts can be found in Table 1 of Volume II. And while CMO performance is close to non-CMO performance, over time CMOs demonstrate larger effect sizes (learning gains) compared with non-CMOs, in both math and reading.

While the overall results are mixed and small in size, the effects for subgroups of students are more promising for CMOs and non-CMOs. In nearly every category and subject area, CMOs and non-CMOs outperform traditional public schools for the following breakouts: Black, Hispanic, poverty, English language learners (ELL), and special education.

Among the four super networks mentioned in the report, KIPP and Uncommon Schools outperform non-CMOs and traditional public schools, while Responsive and White Hat experience negative and mixed findings, respectively. When networks are organized by whether they received investments from the Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF), the networks associated with CSGF are doing phenomenally well.

The tables below present networks with the top ten effect sizes for math and reading (from Appendix A in Volume II). It should be noted that the effect sizes do not represent overall performance levels, they are four year growth effects to show how the charter schools impact students who attend. What emerges from the two lists of top networks is that most are small CMOs in just a handful of states (AR, AZ, CA, DC, FL, NY, OH, PA, TX), many are on both lists, and a good portion of them serve at-risk student populations.

Top Networks: Growth in Reading

Network Name	State	Effect Size (4 Year Growth)	# Schools	Non-Profit?
PPEP & Affiliates*	AZ	0.60**	17	Yes
Intelli-School Charter High Schools*	AZ	0.28**	5	N/A
Rose Management Schools*	AZ	0.24**	3	No
Breakthrough Schools*	OH	0.19**	5	Yes
John H. Wood Jr. Public Charter District	TX	0.19**	8	N/A
American Indian Public Charter School*	CA	0.18**	3	Yes
Two Dimensions Preparatory Charter*	TX	0.17**	3	Yes
Archimedean Academy*	FL	0.15**	3	N/A
Mastery Charter Schools*	PA	0.14**	10	Yes
IDEA Public Schools	TX	0.13**	20	Yes
YES Prep Public Schools	TX	0.13**	10	Yes
DC Prep Charter Schools	DC	0.12**	3	Yes
Gulf Shores Academy	TX	0.12**	5	N/A
KIPP Delta	AR	0.12**	3	Yes
KIPP Houston	TX	0.12**	24	Yes
Neighborhood Centers, Inc. (Promise Community School)*	TX	0.12**	4	Yes
Rocklin Academies	CA	0.12**	3	N/A
Uncommon Schools Rochester	NY	0.12**	3	Yes

* In list of top networks for both math and reading

Top Networks: Growth in Math

Network Name	State	Effect Size (4 Year Growth)	# Schools	Non-Profit?
American Indian Public Charter School*	CA	0.33**	3	Yes
PPEP & Affiliates*	AZ	0.30**	17	Yes
Humanities and Sciences Academy of the United States, Inc.	AZ	0.26**	7	Yes
Rose Management Schools*	AZ	0.25**	3	No
Intelli-School Charter High Schools*	AZ	0.22**	5	N/A
Two Dimensions Preparatory Charter*	TX	0.21**	3	Yes
Mastery Charter Schools*	PA	0.20**	10	Yes
Breakthrough Schools*	OH	0.19**	5	Yes
YES Prep Public Schools*	TX	0.19**	10	Yes
Neighborhood Centers, Inc. (Promise Community School)*	TX	0.17**	4	Yes
Uncommon Schools New York City	NY	0.17**	12	Yes
Archimedean Academy*	FL	0.16**	3	N/A
Propel Schools	PA	0.16**	6	Yes

* In list of top networks for both math and reading

CREDO acknowledges that there is variation in performance among schools within the overall network effect. So networks that show large positive effects may have individual schools performing lower than the average, and conversely low-performing networks may have individual schools performing higher than the average. However, the overall results by network are quite interesting and will take some time to digest.

Charter school quality is an increasingly important topic, not only for closing low-performing schools but for identifying high impact school models and educational practices that can be replicated to serve more students. The new CREDO study provides a lot of information that will help the sector think about measuring performance and making decisions based on the data.

Click here for more information.

NAPCS-Releases-Annual-National-Rankings-of-Charter-School-Laws

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) today announced the release of our annual rankings of state charter school laws across the country. The report, and the NAPCS model charter school law it is based upon, is designed to support the creation of high-quality public charter schools, particularly for those students most in need of better public school options. States with stronger laws have strong foundations for better schools, and so these rankings have major implications for everyone involved in the charter movement.

The biggest takeaway from this year’s rankings report is that the public charter school movement continues to build on 20 years of success. States with weak or no charter laws are basing new legislation on the experiences of states with stronger laws. And some states fell in the rankings simply because other states enacted stronger laws.

We’re delighted to see states build upon the legislative gains they’ve made over the past several years, particularly in strengthening quality and accountability, but our work is far from finished. In fact, at this year’s National Charter Schools Conference in Washington, DC, we will be leading advocacy trainings to better arm you with the tools to campaign for better charter school policies. Make sure you take part in this training by attending the conference.

16 States Make Improvements
From the ballot initiative in Georgia to the lifting of caps across the country, 16 states made great improvements to their laws. Here are the three states that had the biggest gains:

In Need of Improvement
Some states have spent several of years at the bottom of our rankings, including Mississippi, Virginia and Maryland. However a charter bill has been considered in each chamber of the Mississippi legislature, and we hope that it leads to a great law being passed.

8 States Still Have No Law
Eight states have failed to enact a charter school law: Alabama, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia. We’re working hard on the ground in several of these states to get laws passed.

The Best Laws
We’re especially happy to welcome Washington to the fold. We worked closely with advocates in the state to align the new law with our model legislation, and are glad to see voters welcoming more education options.

You can read the entire report and find the press release on our website. We hope this report can be used by charter school supporters to help them push for laws that support the creation of high-quality public charter schools, particularly for those students most in need of a better public school option. Please learn more about how you can help us in our efforts by registering for the conference and visiting the NAPCS website.

Click here for more information.

National-School-Choice-Week-Whistle-Stop:-Chicago,-Ill.

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This week, the Charter Blog will follow the National School Choice Week whistle stop tour—profiling public charter school facts along the tour route (see Kansas/Missouri here).

Chicago is one of 14 stops along the National School Choice Week’s (NSCW) coast-to-coast, whistle-stop train tour to promote school choice. The Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS) is hosting an event today to celebrate NSCW and kick off the Same Student | Same Funding campaign, which aims to correct the unequal "per pupil" funding ratios in Illinois. You can follow the conversation on twitter through hash tag #samefunding.

Chicago has been a central focus point for charter school policy the past year. A two-week long strike by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) in September left 350,000 students in the traditional Chicago Public Schools out of school. During that time, Chicago public charter schools continued to operate, serving 52,000 students. Chicago has the fifth largest public charter school student enrollment according to our 2012 annual market share report. The strike, combined with Illinois charter school performance, increased the demand for more public charter schools. Illinois ranks 27th out of 43 on our 2013 model law rankings.

The strike brought the importance of choice—both for parents in selecting a school with a culture and curricular focus and that fits their child’s needs, and for teachers’ ability to opt to work at a school that appeals to their educational philosophy—to the forefront of policy and political discussions. The power of choice continues to take center stage in the Windy City celebrations of NSCW.

Click here for more information.

National-School-Choice-Week:-A-Governing-Board-Member-Perspective

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This week is National School Choice Week (NSCW), which you can follow on Twitter with #SCW. All of the activities and events around NSCW prompted me to write again about my board experience at Pioneer Charter School in Denver. There have been some big updates since I last wrote about Pioneer.

The last time I wrote about Pioneer, we were in the process of recruiting new board members. I am happy to report that we have three fantastic new board members who bring expertise and years of experience in school leadership, teacher preparation, and education research. Another update since the spring is that our students made some good academic improvements. On the Denver Public Schools’ School Performance Framework, Pioneer moved from Accredited on Watch to Meets Expectations. On the Colorado Growth Model, Pioneer experienced decent growth in math and reading, but our overall proficiency is still lower than where we would like it to be (check out the data here, I’ve highlighted schools in the same neighborhood as Pioneer).

We also organized some great out of state field trips for our middle school students. Check out these photos from D.C., Chicago, and Utah.

Last week Education Week ran a great story exploring the different ways that public charter schools are responding to Common Core State Standards. I read the article with interest because Pioneer spent the past year aligning curriculum, instruction, and formative assessment to the Common Core—and it appears that we are not alone. I would agree with the overall take away from the article that public charter schools may have more flexibility than traditional public schools to transition to the Common Core, but there are still significant barriers to implementation given resources, time, and capacity.

The board, school leadership, and teachers at Pioneer believe that aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment to the Common Core is critical to improving students’ overall performance, especially our students at Pioneer who are primarily English Language Learners. We also recognized that alignment wouldn’t just happen by relying on teachers and leadership to volunteer their free time. As a result, the board approved funds to pay for faculty and staff to use time during their summer break to work in grade level and subject area teams to map out the standards. The teams organized the standards by six, six week blocks, which we call Assessment Periods. And faculty developed interim formative and summative assessments aligned to each Assessment Period to provide information about mastery of the standards and point to areas that need to be retaught. There is evidence from other charter schools that have developed their own formative and summative assessments, that they can be good indicators of how students will perform on annual assessments.

I imagine that every time I write about Pioneer, I will add the caveat that it is a work in progress. (The next big project on our board agenda is making sure that our facility meets the instructional needs of our students!) We have high expectations for what our students can do, but there is a lot of work to be done to create a learning environment that makes it possible. Fortunately, we have strong leadership and dedicated faculty and staff who are committed to the students of Pioneer.

Image: Students from Pioneer Charter School on a field trip to Washington, D.C.

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National-School-Choice-Week-Kicks-Off

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This week, the Charter Blog will follow the National School Choice Week whistle stop tour—profiling public charter school facts along the tour route.

National School Choice Week, which brings together awareness and advocacy activities based on the belief that parents should be empowered to choose the best educational environments for their children, kicked off a whistle stop tour last Friday. Today, the tour is stopping in Topeka, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri.

Kansas ranked 39th (out of 42) on our 2012 model law rankings (check here tomorrow for new 2013 rankings), which find its public charter school legislation could use improvements across the board. However, the Walton Rural Life Center, located 30 miles north of Wichita, is cited as a strong example of using the public charter school model to serve rural populations.

While there are not very many public charter schools in Kansas, when you cross the border to Missouri, Kansas City is #3 on the top market share list, and St. Louis is tied for the #5 spot. Missouri was ranked 18th out of 42 on our 2012 model law. At the time of the 2012 rankings release, Missouri charter law only allowed public charter schools in the Kansas City and St. Louis school districts. During the 2012 legislative session, SB 576—a bill expanding public charter schools—was passed. Check here tomorrow to see how SB 576 impacted Missouri’s 2013 model law ranking.

Click here for more information.

Media-Round-Up

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Charters Adjusting to Common-Core Demands,” Nina Rees (President & CEO) quoted in Education Week, Jan. 22
“Virginia gets a flunking grade for charter schools — again,” NAPCS Model Law rankings report cited in Watchdog.org, Jan. 23
“Triangle faces wave of new charter schools,” NAPCS Market Share report cited in News & Observer, Jan. 20

News to Know

“Report: Districts Should Partner With Charters on Resources, Practices and Facilities,” Education Week, Jan. 25
“Mississippi House Passes Charter Schools Bill,” Mississippi Press, Jan. 24
“Ball State Revokes Charters of Seven Indiana Schools,” Muncie Star Press, Jan. 23
“Charter Schools See Largest Boom Since Their Inception 20 Years Ago,” Daily News, Jan. 22

Audience Favorites

Facebook— K-12 schools across the country are invited to enter the Green School Makeover Competition. Fill out the form below for a chance to win $75,000 in funding, along with Global Green USA’s technical assistance in seeing the plans through to completion. http://www.globalgreen.org/greenschoolmakeover

Twitter— @ILCharters to launch #samefunding campaign aimed to correct unequal per pupil funding during @schoolchoicewk bit.ly/145dA7k #SCW

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Mississippi-House-Passes-Charter-Schools-Bill

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

The Mississippi House passed a bill early Thursday morning that would expand public charter schools in the state. The 64-55 vote came after more than seven hours of debate. The House bill would allow start-up charters in the state (it currently only allows conversions), create a new independent statewide entity to be the authorizer, and provide a solid balance of autonomy and accountability. The Senate passed a broader charter schools bill last week. The House and Senate must now agree on a version to send to Governor Phil Bryant, who during his State of the State address Tuesday reiterated his desire to sign an expanded charter schools law. We’ve been working to get a stronger law passed in Mississippi for many years, and this is an important step forward. However, as Rep. Charles Busby noted after the House vote, "I'm proud we could deliver this for Mississippi children, but we've still got a long way to go."
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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Public Charter Schools Reach New Milestone: Record 6,000 Schools Are Serving 2.3 Million Students,” Nina Rees (President & CEO) and NAPCS data quoted, PR Newswire, Jan. 15
“Report Says Florida A National Leader In Charter School Growth — Another Says It’s Not Fast Enough,” Nina Rees and NAPCS data quoted, WLRN, Jan 15
“California Charter Schools Grow At Fastest U.S. Rate,” NAPCS data cited, Huffington Post, Jan. 15
“Report: Florida second in nation in public charters,” NAPCS data cited, Miami Herald, Jan. 15

News to Know

“Massachusetts Bill Would End Charter Cap,” Boston Globe, Jan. 18
“Mississippi Senate Passes Charter School Bill,” Clarion Ledger, Jan. 17
“New York City Mayoral Candidate Outlines Education Proposals,” Wall Street Journal, Jan. 16
“Study: Michigan Charters Give Students an Edge,” Detroit News, Jan. 15
“Tennessee Lawmakers to Consider Statewide Charter Authorizer,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, Jan. 14

Audience Favorites

Facebook—Public Charter Schools Reach New Milestone: Record 6,000 Schools Are Serving 2.3 Million Students. “The growth of the public charter sector continues because parents are demanding quality options for their children,” said Nina Rees, NAPCS president and CEO. Learn more about the growth in public charter schools and student enrollment here.

Twitter—@educationweek There are a record 6,000 #charter schools for the 2012-13 school year, @charteralliance says: blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charter… via @EWKatieAsh

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CREDO-Releases-New-Study-on-Michigan-Public-Charter-Schools

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

CREDO released a new study on Michigan public charter schools today – and the research shows that public charter school students perform better than those in traditional public schools.

Beyond the big takeaway message, there are a lot of interesting breakouts of the data beyond the overall impact of charter schools on student performance at the state level. Look at the graph below, which includes all of the school-level data points from the study. The results are presented such that the effect sizes are compared to traditional public schools. For example, the overall Michigan results show that students in public charter schools scored roughly .06 standard deviations higher than traditional public schools in both math and reading. Each of the symbols represents a separate breakout of the data, plotting math results against reading results. Because the effect sizes are standardized, the results from different breakouts can be compared.

First of all, it should be noted that all of the effect sizes across the school characteristics are positive and statistically significant, compared with traditional public schools. Compared with the overall results for Michigan charter school students, students attending charter schools in Detroit are scoring about 50 percent higher in reading and 33 percent higher in math than the state charter average. As we’ve discussed recently, there has been a decidedly upward trend in research on charter school performance. Additionally, the results from Michigan are consistent with recent results CREDO released for Indiana and New Jersey.

CREDO’s study also shows higher effect sizes than the statewide results for students attending charter schools for two or more years, rural charter schools, elementary charter schools, and charter schools operated by for-profit management organizations (EMOs).

Source: CREDO. (2013). Charter school performance in Michigan. Stanford, CA: Author.

The results for student demographic breakouts show that African-American, Hispanic, and high-poverty students enrolled in charter schools perform better than similar students attending traditional public schools. Students categorized as English language learners (ELL) and special education perform about as well in charter schools as similar students in traditional public schools. Unfortunately, the analyses show that large achievement gaps remain for minority, poverty, ELL, and special education students in both charter and traditional public schools. Overall, charter schools are outperforming traditional public schools, but all public schools have work to do to decrease achievement gaps for all students.

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Estimated-Number-of-Public-Charter-Schools-and-Students,-2012-2013

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

This past fall, over 500 new public charter schools opened their doors and an additional 270,000 students enrolled in public charter schools compared with enrollment numbers from the 2011-2012 school year. With the addition of new charter schools and students, there are approximately 6,000 public charter schools enrolling over 2.3 million students across the country in the 2012-2013 school year. The 7 percent growth in the number of operating public charter schools and 13 percent growth in public charter school student enrollment are demonstrations of parents’ demand for high quality educational options.

All of these figures are available in the new Details from the Dashboard report released today. The data for the current school year are estimates until official fall enrollment counts are available through state departments of education. Data can also be found on the Public Charter Schools Dashboard.

Check out the infographic below that shows the growth in public charter schools and students enrolled over time. The number of students attending public charter schools has increased by 1 million students over the past five years, or 80 percent growth. In that same amount of time, over 1,500 additional public charter schools became available to students, representing 40 percent growth in public charter school options. Ten year growth was 240 percent for students and 135 percent for schools.

Highlights from the graphic:

Up until five years ago, the average number of additional students who enrolled in public charter schools annually was less than 150,000 students. For the past two years, the additional number of students enrolling in public charter schools has been over 220,000.
For each of the past three years, over 500 new public charter schools have opened their doors to students (531 in 2012-2013, 547 in 2011-2012, and 518 in 2010-2011). The number of new schools has been 400 or more for the past six years.
For each of the past six years, between 100 and 200 public charter schools have closed annually. The charter schools closed for a variety of reasons, including low enrollment, financial concerns, and low academic performance. The closures provide evidence that the charter school bargain works; schools that do not meet the needs of their students should be closed.

Click below for a larger version.

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Va.-Governor-Calls-for-Better-Climate-for-Public-Charter-Schools-in-State-of-Commonwealth-Speech

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell called for an expansion of public charter schools in his State of the Commonwealth address on Wednesday. In his speech, Governor McDonnell stated:

“We still have one of the weakest public charter schools laws in the country. The best public charter school operators in the nation will not come here because we make it nearly impossible for them. We need new charter school laws that demand excellence, set clear standards, and welcome the best charter schools into our communities.”

McDonnell asked lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment to allow the state Board of Education to authorize charter applicants. He also asked that lawmakers eliminate the requirement that local school boards apply for authorization from the state Board of Education before opening a charter school. “These ideas will make it much easier for proven charter schools to open up,” he said.

Only four public charter schools currently operate in in Virginia, and the Commonwealth ranks 37th out of 42 states and the District of Columbia on our 2012 Model Law report. On the plus side, Virginia’s law is cap-free. However, aside from an absence of formal restrictions on growth, Virginia’s law needs improvement across the board. Most notably, the Virginia charter law could improve by providing additional authorizing options for charter applicants, ensuring authorizer accountability, providing adequate authorizer funding, beefing up the law in relation to the model law’s four quality control components (components six through nine), increasing operational autonomy, and ensuring equitable operational funding and equitable access to capital funding and facilities.

Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell delivers the State of the Commonwealth address before the General Assembly at the State Capitol in Richmond, Va. on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. (Bob Brown | AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch)

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Walton Foundation announces its total investments in charter schools,” Nina Rees (President & CEO) quoted in Saporta Report, Jan. 7
“State may consider 11 new charter schools in Durham,” NAPCS Market Share report cited in Durham Herald-Sun, Jan. 8

News to Know

“Virginia Governor Calls for Public Charter School Expansion,” Washington Post, Jan. 11
“Sandra Bullock Receives People's Choice Humanitarian Award for Charter School Work,” Ace Show Biz, Jan. 10
“Charter School Bill Filed in Kentucky House,” WFPL, Jan. 9
“Mississippi Business Group Joins Push For Public Charter Schools,” Clarion Ledger, Jan. 8
“Maine Governor Wants to Remove Cap on Charter Schools,” Maine Sun Journal, Jan. 7

Audience Favorites

Facebook— This GreatSchools video tackles the question 'What Are Charter Schools?'

Twitter—@charteralliance Congrats to #SandraBullock, the 1st @peopleschoice Favorite Humanitarian for her work w/ a New Orleans charter school bit.ly/VMQht4

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Sandra-Bullock-Named-Favorite-Humanitarian-for-Work-at-New-Orleans-Public-Charter-School

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

When Sandra Bullock was honored with the first ever People’s Choice Award for Favorite Humanitarian, she highlighted her 8-year commitment to a New Orleans public charter school. Bullock adopted the school, rebuilt as Warren Easton Charter High School after it sustained millions of dollars’ worth of damage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Since then, she has been a constant presence and financial supporter at the school.

During her acceptance speech, here’s how Bullock described Warren Easton Charter High School:

“You will not find a student there that doesn't know that they are loved and cared for under that roof. Half the senior class is attending college classes in their free-time. We have 100 perfect graduation rate. The students and faculty go to school on Saturdays to either study or to help others. I would so never make it in that school!" she laughed. "They compete, but they never cut each other down. And all that happens not because it's easy, but because they do not allow themselves any other option than to succeed, even when life outside of those walls gives them no indication of support and hope."

Actress Sandra Bullock with students at Warren Easton Charter High School. Image via peopleschoice on YouTube.

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Kentucky-Introduces-Legislation-to-Establish-Public-Charter-Schools

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Yesterday, Kentucky House Representative Brad Montell introduced legislation to establish charter schools. The 2013 legislative session marks the third year in a row that supporters have pursued a law to allow public charter schools in the Bluegrass State.

Kentucky is one of only eight states without a law authorizing public charter schools. In 1992, public charter schools started as a small movement and have grown into a proven and effective model for education that respond to parents’ demands and addresses the unique learning needs of students. Today, more than two million students attend these innovative public schools. But Kentucky’s parents and students don’t have the option of attending a public charter school.

In a state with as much diversity as Kentucky, public charter schools can meet the needs of racial, ethnic, and economic groups demanding different curricular approaches. For example, charter schools specialize in several education models, such as bilingual education, arts, vocational instruction, or programs for gifted or at-risk students. Over the past 20 years, charter schools have demonstrated that they can succeed serving children often overlooked by traditional school systems. Indeed, many charter school leaders explicitly state that satisfying the educational needs of a target student group is central to their mission.

Rep. Montell’s legislation is based on examples of laws in states where public charter schools are making the biggest impact on student achievement. With it, Kentucky will have the chance to open new high-quality schools in the public education sector.
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StudentsFirst-2013-State-Policy-Report-Card

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

StudentsFirst released their first state report card today, grading state policies against three policy areas the organization believes are critical to refocusing the education system on students:

Elevate the teaching profession
Empower parents with choice and information
Spend wisely and govern well

The states with the top ten scores in the overall ranking system are: Louisiana, Florida, Indiana, Rhode Island, Michigan, Hawaii, Arizona, Colorado, District of Columbia, and Ohio. However, no states received an overall grade higher than a B-.

The section on empowering parents has several charter school indicators, including many elements of NAPCS’ model charter school law. The top ten states are: Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, Florida, Hawaii, District of Columbia, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Missouri. In this category the highest score was a C+. Clearly there is a lot of room for improvement if states are going to implement policies that meet the objectives of StudentsFirst.

In NAPCS’ 2012 state-by-state ranking against the charter school model law, Maine had the highest score – with 158 out of 208 points available. NAPCS will be releasing an updated version of the law soon with new analysis about states’ effectiveness in implementing their laws.

For an online database of the StudentsFirst report card, click here.

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Mississippi Coalition for Public Charter Schools Calls for Smart Legislation in 2013,” NAPCS data and report on rural charter schools cited in Education Week’s Charters & Choice Blog, Jan. 2
“Chicago charter school subject to private-sector labor laws,” legal brief filed by NAPCS cited in WBEZ Chicago Public Media, Jan. 2

News to Know

“Education Week’s Top Charter School Stories for 2012 & Predictions for 2013,” Education Week’s Charters & Choice Blog, Jan. 4
“Mississippi Lawmakers Gear Up to Pass Charter School Bill,” Jackson Free Press, Jan. 3
“Why California Must Lead the Way in Closing Underperforming Charter Schools,” EdSource, Jan. 2

Audience Favorites

Facebook—Great article about the success of a small, rural Kansas public charter school with a focus on agricultural, project-based learning. Before it converted to charter status in 2007, it had struggled to keep up enrollment. Now the Walton Rural Life School is looking to expand in order to accommodate students on its waiting list.

Twitter— @charteralliance "Rural School Turned Charter Grows from Low Enrollment to Wait List" bit.ly/UJenGx via @educationweek #ruraled

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Our-Hopes-for-the-New-Year

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Washington is kicking into high gear in 2013. The new Congress is being sworn in today, and the inaugural events are just a few weeks away. As our federal legislators begin a new Congressional session, we’ll share some of our hopes for the public charter school sector.

In these last few months, we’ve seen more evidence that public charter schools are being recognized as leaders of innovation in public education. Three charter networks received Race to the Top-District Awards from the U.S. Department of Education. Although charters are only 6 percent of all public schools, they received nearly 18 percent of award dollars. And, the latest round of Gates District-Charter Collaboration Compact grants demonstrated that an increasing number of forward-thinking mayors and superintendents are embracing charters as partners in educating the children in their communities. Building on this recognition, NAPCS will work to provide children access to quality public charter schools. Our top goal is to secure increased funding from Congress and the U.S. Department of Education that supports the expansion of quality public charter schools.

We understand that we have to be vigilant about quality. Our President and CEO Nina Rees has endorsed the work of our colleagues at NACSA and their One Million Lives campaign. We know that underperforming charter schools need to close and we need to ensure that new, higher-quality ones are there to take their place. Indeed, our model charter law includes policies to improve school and authorizer accountability.

NAPCS looks forward to advocating for stronger charter laws and related accountability measures in states and here in Washington.

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Happy-Holidays!

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Our office will be closed from Christmas Day to New Years Day. We wish all of you a happy holidays, safe travels, and look forward to working with you in the new year!

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Measuring-the-Impact-of-School-Closures-on-Student-Performance

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The public charter school sector is coalescing around school quality. The goal is to support the growth of new, high-quality charter schools and close low-performing charter schools (see NAPCS’ response to NACSA’s One Million Lives Campaign).

What is striking is that the public charter sector is reaching a consensus around the need for strategic charter school closures. Conversely, you don’t often hear clamoring for closure of low-performing traditional public schools from district school supporters—whether it’s community nonprofits or teachers unions. Closures of traditional public schools have typically been proposed by local school districts or called for by the U.S. Department of Education, and public responses verge on outrage (see examples from Philadelphia, D.C., Chicago, and NYC).

School closures are upsetting for students, parents, teachers, school staff, and the community. However, recent research on the DC Closure Initiative, which closed or consolidated 32 elementary and middle traditional public schools the summer before the 2008-2009 school year, may provide some comfort to policymakers and educators contemplating school closures. The researchers found that student performance dipped in the first year after school closures, but rebounded by the second year. Moreover, students affected by school closures did not demonstrate higher rates of subsequent mobility. The study builds on previous research on the impact of school closures by RAND and the Consortium on Chicago School Research.

The findings from the study support the notion that making tough but necessary decisions to close chronically low-performing schools will ultimately ensure student access to better learning environments.

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California-Charter-Leadership-Program-Teaches-Tailored-Skills-for-Success

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This guest blog series describes approaches that seek to address one of the most critical issues facing the rapidly growing public charter school movement: its leadership pipeline. The examples from Georgia and California show how partnerships have been developed to create training programs that teach the specific skills public charter school administrators need to run a successful school. If you would like to share additional examples of leadership pipeline programs, post them to @charteralliance or #charterleadership on Twitter.

In 2012, the Charter and Autonomous Leadership Academy (CASLA) sent out a national survey to public charter school stakeholders to determine training needs for charters school leaders. These results presented a strong interest in charter leadership training. After several years of research and development, the CASLA program has created and implemented an innovative university-based charter leadership program in which participates earn a master’s degree in education (charter leadership) and a state credential authorization. Just as successful K-12 charter leaders must be entrepreneurial and creative, the CASLA university team successfully navigated the public university institutional system to create an accelerated, efficient, and personalized entrepreneurial program. The CASLA program is based on research, best practices, and creative solutions to meet the needs of charter school leaders in Los Angeles and eventually nationwide.

CASLA is housed at California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), a four-year urban public institution located in the urban city of Carson in Los Angeles County. CSUDH is one of the most ethnically diverse campuses in the California State University system. The school is accredited by both the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Since California has a very high percentage of start-up schools (as opposed to conversion schools), CASLA’s innovative program is focused on start-up schools. During our research, aspiring and current charter leaders requested relevant and current content, and alternatives to weekly evening classes in traditional university credential programs—due to the traffic congestion in Los Angeles and responsibilities of charter leaders. In addition, current charter leaders requested assistance with career options beyond their tenure as charter school leaders. The CASLA program is addressing the needs.

The CASLA leadership curriculum is designed based on the knowledge, skills, and disposition as articulated by current and former successful charter leaders, as well as small area public school district superintendents. The CASLA program incorporates sophisticated video conferencing using technology-based instruction to personalize and individualize the delivery and content. Participants attend two weeklong seminars in the summer, and content courses are web-based. One charter conference attendance is required. Content courses are six weeks in length; field research, extensive reading, and personal reflection are critical components. Charter case study is a major strand throughout the 15-month credential/certificate program. The critical internship component incorporates shadowing, field-research, and residency. Current and retired successful charter school leaders teach the content courses. Participants are grouped in a cohort. Current charter leaders benefit from web-based certificate programs, on topics such as master schedule development, essential elements of instruction, conflict resolution, improve rigor through effective use of data, etc.

The elements of the CASLA program form a comprehensive system that prepares and supports charter leaders who are committed to improving teacher practice and student achievement. CASLA school leaders are now leading over 10,343 charter students in the greater Los Angeles area, with 57 percent of our CASLA leaders representing the minority groups of our diverse student population. Over 4,000 charter students have been positively impacted by our field research to improve student achievement. CASLA plans to create national regional centers. We invite inquires. The CASLA program is the beneficiary of a supportive relationship with the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, our California Charter School Association (CCSA), and a federal grant funded through the Office of Innovation and Improvement in the Department of Education.

Image via CASLA website

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Georgia’s-CharterLeader-Program-Addresses-Charter-Leadership-Needs

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This guest blog series describes approaches that seek to address one of the most critical issues facing the rapidly growing public charter school movement: its leadership pipeline. The examples from Georgia and California show how partnerships have been developed to create training programs that teach the specific skills public charter school administrators need to run a successful school. If you would like to share additional examples of leadership pipeline programs, post them to @charteralliance or #charterleadership on Twitter.

For a number of years, the Georgia Charter Schools Association (GCSA) has anecdotally recognized a high turn over rate in its charters due to a number of factors—including governance issues and the heavy workload associated with running a multi-million dollar non-profit and a public school. In 2008, research from the University of Washington’s National Center for Charter School Research Project published data to validate GCSA’s concerns in their study, Working without a Safety Net by Christine Campbell and Bethany Gross. With the growth of the charter sector nationally and in Georgia, increasing the pipeline and retaining quality talent became a practical matter. The National Governor’s Association and others in the education research field, such as Robert Marzano, all agree that leadership is the second most influential factor in student achievement, next to the classroom teacher. This further emphasizes the importance of addressing leadership succession and capacity, and that is exactly what GCSA set out to do in late 2008.

When we decided to address leadership preparation and retention, it was a huge undertaking. Where do you start? We recognized that the issue with leadership turnover and quality in charters was rooted in inadequate skills and competencies to do the job. But to write curriculum for a training program, you really have to define first what a high quality charter school is and does. So the first step was to bring stakeholders together from our district authorizers and the State Department of Education’s Charter Schools Division to develop Quality School Standards. Out of these standards we were able to then identify the key competencies of a high quality leader and the training required to get them there.

Through a grant provided by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, we started with a 10-day intensive training program with 2 modules – business and leadership – and a strong mentor model from education and business backgrounds to support the leaders. The program pilot was a success. We realized, though, that while we could adequately train the leaders we had, we would never really move the bar in the sector toward a pipeline to meet demand and cross the bridge with the traditional public schools until we actually impacted training programs in the university system for a broader reach. So we set out to find a university partner who would be visionary enough to rethink educational leadership preparation.

In 2012, GCSA partnered with Kennesaw State University’s (KSU) Bagwell College of Education and Lake Oconee Academy (LOA), the partnership’s model school site, to offer an Education Specialist Master’s degree program. It leverages GCSA’s expertise in disseminating information to a statewide network of charter schools, teachers, and leaders and its knowledge and experience with quality schools and leadership; KSU’s strength as one of the largest educator preparation programs in Georgia; and LOA’s outstanding record of leadership and student achievement. This Ed.S. degree program focuses on charter-specific skills and competencies required for leading a high quality public charter school and replicates many of the award-winning charter school leadership practices of LOA, a Georgia Platinum School for Highest Academic Achievement in which approximately 75 percent of the students qualify for federal free or reduced-cost meals. Candidates selected for the Ed.S. program receive grant-funded scholarships for their four-semester graduate program.

Building on educational research in effective leadership, most of the program’s content, developed in collaboration between KSU and GCSA from its original CharterLeader pilot, is delivered in a residency model at each candidate’s “home” school site. There, they are required to demonstrate expertise through “real life” performance projects. Candidates from both charter and traditional backgrounds come together throughout the program at retreats to share best practices, and to collaborate and to meet with experts in the field. Throughout the program, candidates receive ongoing coaching from educators with expertise in leading and founding charter schools, as well as veteran leaders in the traditional and independent school sectors.

We are about half-way through our first cohort and ready to recruit for the second cohort. We are very excited about the progress we have made and the promise the CharterLeader program holds for the future growth and efficacy of the charter movement. There has been much learning along the way in establishing the program and the partnership. We look forward to sharing these learnings with our peers in the charter sector and to broaden the reach of our work.

Click here for more information.

Lifting-the-Public-Charter-Cap-in-Massachusetts:-Will-It-Reduce-Achievement-Gaps003F-Research-Says-Yes.

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In January 2010, the Massachusetts legislature raised the cap on public charter schools in the state’s lowest-performing school districts. This opened the way for 20 new charter schools state-wide, with 11 slotted for Boston. As the Massachusetts Public Charter School Association (MPCSA) points out, the state legislature recognized the tremendous impact public charter schools have on student performance, and eased the cap with the specific goal of using high-quality charter schools to tackle persistent racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps.

Public charter schools in Boston have demonstrated large increases in achievement (see the 2009 Harvard/MIT study). Specifically, the study found very large gains in both math and reading for middle and high school students attending charter schools in Boston. Further, MPCSA reports that “the five highest performing public high schools are all charters and seven of the eight highest performing public middle schools are charters (based on 2010 MCAS scores comparing open admission public schools).”

Any curious person would ask: Did the policymakers’ decision to lift the cap on the number of charter schools in Massachusetts actually lead to better student outcomes?

As luck would have it, a new working paper by a researcher at MIT takes a very thorough and innovative look at the projected impact of opening new charter schools in Boston and reports: “[S]imulations show that Boston's proposed expansion, which raises the share of middle schoolers attending charters from 9 percent to 15 percent, is expected to reduce the gap in math scores between Boston and the rest of Massachusetts by 10 percent, and reduce citywide achievement gaps by roughly 5 percent.”

Take a look at two of the graphics presented in the paper (see below). Figure 8 shows the projected average test scores of all students in Boston as the number of charter schools increases. The vertical black dotted line indicates the number of charter middle schools as of the 2010-11 school year, and the red dotted line indicates the number of charter middle schools after the proposed number of new schools open. Figure 9 shows the projected achievement gap among all students in Boston as the number of charter schools increases.

Source: Walters, C. (2012). “Predicting the effects of charter school expansion.” MIT working paper, http://economics.mit.edu/files/8138.

The big take away: The presence of more high-quality charter schools leads to higher citywide test scores and smaller achievement gaps throughout the city.

The simulations in the study indicate that there may be a limit in terms of demand to enroll in charter schools at about 24 percent of district market share. However, with 20,000 students on waiting lists to attend the roughly 7,000 seats currently available in charter schools in Boston, and a total of roughly 60,000 students in the district, it is feasible that charter schools could enroll between 40-50 percent of all public school students before demand would taper off. Moreover, if public charter schools produce the type of performance increases (and reductions in the achievement gap) that the simulations project, Boston could see parental demand for access to high-quality charter schools increase as the public sees significant results.

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Mississippi Coalition for Public Charter Schools Calls for Smart Legislation in 2013,” advocacy efforts by a coalition including the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Mississippi First, the Black Alliance for Educational Options, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, and the Mississippi Association of Realtors cited in PR Newswire, Dec. 13
“New 'Trigger' Law May Increase Number of Charter Schools,” David Hoff (Vice President, Communications) quoted in Kansas City Infozine, Dec. 13
“Charter Schools Continue to Grow,” David Hoff quoted in North County Times and U-T San Diego, Dec. 11
“Charter school leaders urged to educate Legislature on their mission,” Nina Rees (President & CEO) cited in Reporter-News, Dec. 9

News to Know

“Charter School Expansion Top Priority for Mississippi Lawmakers,” Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Dec. 14
“High-Performing Charter Schools Wooed by Districts,” StateImpact, Dec. 13
“Harmony Charter Schools, IDEA Charter Network, and KIPP DC Win in Race to the Top-District Competition,” Houston Chronicle, Monitor, and Washington Post, Dec. 12
“Brookings Ranks New Orleans, New York, D.C. Best Cities for School Choice,” Washington Post, Dec. 11
“Arkansas Lawmakers to Consider Changes to Charter School Law, Republic, Dec. 10

Audience Favorites

Facebook—What's your dream for charter schools and how can we help you deliver on it? Share your dreams here, and then in person at the National Charter Schools Conference. http://www.publiccharters.org/conference

Twitter— @Ninacharters I dream of a day when public charter schools can meet the demand to provide a quality education for all children who need one. #ncsc13

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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What-do-Special-Education-Enrollment-Figures-Really-Tell-Us003F

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Critics say that public charter schools do not serve students with disabilities. But simple comparisons of the relative number of students with special needs served do not tell the full story. The Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) recently released a report that gives some context. It describes the distribution of students with disabilities in New York State charter and district-run schools. The analysis compares charter and district-run schools at the state level, and then conducts further break outs by school type, district, and authorizer.

The different comparison levels yield different results. Of particular note is that comparisons of state-level and other large data sets mask important information and variation. More specifically, the report finds:

The statewide comparison of the difference in charter and district enrollment is too simplistic—charter schools on average serve a smaller share of special education students than New York’s district-run schools, but the distribution and range of enrollment are not that different from the district-run schools’ composition
Charter middle and high school special education enrollments are indistinguishable from district enrollments, while charter elementary schools show underenrollment of students with disabilities.
There is variation among charter authorizers—some oversee schools with special education enrollments that closely track those of nearby district-run schools; others do not.

Given the variation of special education enrollment across charter and district schools, the report calls for nuanced policies. Rather than using sweeping measures such as enrollment targets, policymakers and authorizers should conduct further research to identify where special education underenrollment exists in charter schools and examine possible explanations. Then work should be done with the charter school community to develop innovative strategies to address specific problems.

The charter community is taking this work very seriously. Last summer, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report that found that charter schools, on average, serve a smaller proportion of students with disabilities than district-run public schools. As a response to these concerns and to better serve their students and community, public charter schools, advocates in districts, states, and courts across the country have sought to improve access. The new analysis by CRPE helps the public charter community understand the problem and create appropriate responses.

Click here for more information.

NAPCS-Congratulates-recipients-of-the-Race-to-the-Top-District-Grant

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Three public charter school networks were big winners in the Race to the Top–District grants.

The U.S. Department of Education announced that the Harmony Public Schools won $30 million, IDEA Public Schools will receive $29.2 million, and KIPP DC was awarded $10 million in the highly competitive grant program.

The other 13 winners were traditional public school districts.

NAPCS congratulates all of the winners and will share more details about the charter applicants and how they will invest the money from the program.

Click here for more information.

Q0024A-with-Naomi-Chudowsky,-Co-Author-of-New-NAEP-Report-on-Public-Charter-Schools

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) recently commissioned a new study of public charter schools using National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) data. In this Q & A, NAPCS Research Director Anna Nicotera talks with Naomi Chudowsky, co-author of the study.

AN: What has previous research using NAEP data found regarding the comparison of traditional public schools and public charter schools?

NC: The main U.S. Department of Education study was released in 2005 using 2003 NAEP data. The report examined 4th grade reading and math. For the first time in the 2003 NAEP administration, charter schools were oversampled to make sure there were enough students to compare with students in regular public schools (roughly 3,300 charter students and 190,000 students in regular public schools). The 2005 study found that charter school performance lagged behind that of regular schools in 4th grade math, and was about the same in 4th grade reading. As one of the first national studies comparing performance differences between charter and regular public schools, the study received a lot of attention.

AN: Why did NAGB commission a new analysis of charter schools using NAEP data?

NC: It had been a number of years since the first study using 2003 NAEP data, and given the increase in charter school enrollment, NAGB considered it worthwhile to look at the charter school performance data once again. Beginning in 2005, NAEP included enough charter school students to examine 8th grade in addition to 4th grade. New research could use 2003 as a baseline for 4th grade and 2005 as a baseline for 8th grade performance data.

There has also been more interest among NAGB members to examine the background information collected by NAEP, including information on student background variables, what teachers have been doing in class, school characteristics, amount of time spent in different subjects, etc. NAGB wants to publish more studies using background data and support researchers using the data. The background data elements are available on the NAEP Data Explorer and are publicly available to anyone interested in the data for research.

AN: What did you find in your study of public charter schools on NAEP?

NC: We looked at two major areas: charter school enrollment and student achievement. In terms of enrollment, some interesting subgroup data pieces emerged. For example, between the 2003 and 2011 NAEP administrations, enrollment of Black students in charter schools in urban areas jumped from four to 12 percent. The data suggest that charter schools are playing a larger role in the education of some subgroups of students.

The main story that came out of our analyses for performance was that when you look at the national level, NAEP scores for regular public schools look higher than for charter schools. However, when you focus in on cities and subgroups, you start to see that charter schools demonstrate higher performance.

Nationally, we found that NAEP scores for regular public schools were higher than for charter schools with statistical significance. But the category of regular public school includes all students who attend regular public schools across the country in all types of communities. When we focus in on urban areas where most charter schools are located, we no longer found an advantage for regular public schools.

Moreover, some student subgroups performed significantly higher in charter schools. For example, Black and Hispanic students attending charter schools performed higher than similar students in regular public schools, with statistical significance.

The most interesting analysis, in a way, was looking at four urban districts (DC, Atlanta, Chicago, and Milwaukee). The students in charter schools performed significantly better than students in regular public schools in many subject areas and grades analyzed. There were no instances of students in regular public schools performing significantly better.

It should be noted that because the charter school sample is small in NAEP, there is more room for statistical error and the performance differences have to be quite large to find the statistically significant differences we found between charter and regular public schools.

AN: Given the limitations of comparing public charter schools and traditional public schools with NAEP data, what can the findings tell us about charter school performance?

NC: There is a lot that we don’t know and can’t know from analyses using NAEP data. NAGB and NCES staff are very careful to explain that NAEP data cannot be used for causal inferences. We still don’t know that what is going on in the charter schools is the reason for the difference in performance. It could be that the kids in these schools are different based on background characteristics, and that it is these differences that cause differences in performance.

However, the results from our analyses point to some interesting descriptive findings. Researchers should build on these data and look at why students in charter schools are performing better. Is it because of the school? Or is it because of student background or because certain students are selecting charter schools? The findings are not conclusive, but suggest that there is something good happening in charter schools that we should find out more about. If the results are because of particular teaching methods, the organization of charter schools, or the extent to which charter schools involve parents, can these practices be replicated in other schools?

When studies using different data and different methodologies converge, the findings become compelling. And that is what appears to be happening with charter school research, particularly in certain cities. When research on charters started, the findings were all over the place, often finding exactly opposite results. But more recent research is showing that charter schools often outperform regular public schools when like groups of students, attending schools in similar locations, are compared.

AN: What additional research on charter schools do you believe can be done with NAEP data?

NC: My co-author, Alan Ginsburg conducted a study using the NAEP background data to study trends in time on learning. He looked at time spent on various subjects, absenteeism, and homework. But he wasn’t able to focus on charter schools because there was so much data. It would be interesting to compare time on learning between charter and regular schools. The NAEP background data also include a lot of information about instructional content and methods. It would be interesting to explore, for example, whether teachers in charter schools are more frequently engaging students in hands-on activities in science, or role-playing in social studies, or manipulatives in math.

NAEP would be good for getting a broad look into the “black box” of what’s going on in charter schools, and then further research could examine instructional methods in more detail using more rigorous research designs or case studies.

Naomi Chudowsky is a consultant with Caldera Research LLC, which does research on federal education policy for state and national clients. She was previously a senior program officer at the National Research Council, where she worked on a variety of studies related to education and testing. Before that she worked on test development for President Clinton’s Voluntary National Testing Initiative at the U.S. Department of Education and as the coordinator of Connecticut’s statewide high school testing program. She has a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Stanford University.

Click here for more information.

Media-Round-Up

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Grants Back District-Charter Collaboration,” Nina Rees (President and CEO) quoted in New York Times, Dec. 5
“Texas Charters Look to Legislative Agenda,” Nina Rees cited in San Angelo Standard-Times, Dec. 5

News to Know

“California Appeals Court Reverses Charter Facilities Decision,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 7
“Gates Foundation Gives $25 Million to Help Charters, Traditional Schools Cooperate,” Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Dec. 6
“Boston Wins Gates Foundation Grant for District-Charter Collaboration,” Boston Globe, Dec. 5
“Editorial: In Chicago, Build On Successes of Charter Schools,” Chicago Sun-Times, Dec. 4
“Op-ed: Public Charter Schools Save Taxpayers Money,” Wall Street Journal, Dec. 3

Audience Favorites

Facebook— Washington State is official on our Public Charter Schools Dashboard! Check out this comprehensive data resource to learn more about public charter schools in 42 states and D.C.
http://dashboard.publiccharters.org/dashboard/policy/page/overview/year/2013

Twitter— @JBernalYESPrep: @Ninacharters says charters are advancing the cause through talent, passion, innovations, and accountability. #tcsaconf

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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NAGB-Again-Pursuing-Analysis-of-Public-Charter-Schools-on-NAEP

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

For almost a decade, there’s been a heated debate over what the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly referred to as the nation’s report card, tells us about student achievement in public charter schools.

A couple of items of consensus emerged from the debate:

NAEP data should be used and interpreted with caution. NAEP data present snapshot results of different students at different points in time. Moreover, comparing a snapshot of student performance between charters and traditional public schools does not control for the potential bias of students selecting to attend charter schools. (Check out this transcript of a 2004 PBS NewsHour interview with our President and CEO Nina Rees, who was then Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, commenting on the release of 2003 NAEP data.)
NAEP data may be used for descriptive analyses that can generate hypotheses for further study.

With that background, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), the governing board of NAEP, commissioned a new study of NAEP data for charter schools this past summer. At their November board meeting, exploratory results were presented. The study addresses the following questions:

Who attends charter schools?
Does student achievement differ between charter schools and regular public school students?
How do student subgroups perform in charter schools?
How do charter schools compare with regular public schools in urban school systems?

While the study authors, Naomi Chudowsky and Alan Ginsburg, use caution about comparing public charter schools and traditional public schools with NAEP data, they report the following:

“There is a consistent pattern of higher average NAEP scores for regular public schools than for charter schools when we look at the nation as a whole. But public school advantage has diminished.”
“However, the closer we focus in on large cities, where most charter schools are located, the more the picture changes in favor of charter schools. In all large cities combined, student achievement is roughly even overall, but the black and Hispanic subgroups show higher scores in charter schools.”
“When we examined four urban areas specifically (DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Milwaukee), students in charter schools significantly outperformed their peers in regular public schools in almost all of the subjects/grades analyzed.”
“Charter school class sizes are smaller, and there is some evidence that charter school students receive more instructional time in some subjects.”

Last year we wrote about the most recent 2011 NAEP data (see here and here), pointing out the rise in NAEP test scores for public charter schools, especially among several subgroups and on the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA).

So what can NAEP data tell us about the performance of charter schools? In the best case scenario, the uptick in NAEP scores reflects the overall upward trend in charter student performance that more rigorous studies have been identifying over the past decade (see our write-up here). NAEP data on charter schools should be used in context and with caution. The higher NAEP test scores for charter schools may suggest that charter schools are getting better in comparison with traditional public schools, but the data cannot say this definitively. Fortunately, longitudinal studies using student-level data (and a meta-analysis of these studies) are pointing in the direction of increasing student performance of charter schools.

Click here for more information.

Gates-Foundation-Awards-Grants-to-Communities-Focused-on-Public-Charter-and-Traditional-School-Collaboration

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Today, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced new competitive funding for seven cities as part of its goal to foster for bold collaboration between public charter and district schools. The cities receiving grants totaling nearly $25 million are: Boston, Denver, Hartford (CT), New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia and Spring Branch (TX).

“When schools and leaders in communities work together, learn from each other, share resources, best practices and sometimes even facilities, collectively we have a better chance at improving the educational opportunities for all children,” said Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “We applaud these cities for helping to lead the way and look forward to continuing to learn from their efforts and collaboration to benefit more students throughout the country.”

These communities are part of a group of 16 cities that have signed District-Charter Collaboration Compacts. In these cities, public charter and district school leaders, teachers, superintendents, and other community partners, such as mayors, local teachers’ unions and/or school board members, are working together to ensure all students in their communities receive a high-quality education that prepares them for college and career.

Click here for more information.

Public-Charters-Lead-the-Way-in-Extended-Learning

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Over the past 20 years, the public charter school movement has been on the cutting-edge of key school reforms: setting high expectation for all students, offering an education that prepares students for success in college and careers, and identifying highly effective teachers.

A new report documents just how far public charters are leading in another area: expanded learning time.

The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) examined all of the schools in its database of schools with school days longer than the tradition 6½ hours. They found that 60 percent of them are public charters. What’s really noteworthy about that figure—only 6 percent of all public schools are charter schools.

Here’s more from the report:

Expanded-time (ET) charter schools typically offer longer school days than traditional district expanded-time schools. Just over half the traditional district ET schools provide a school day longer than 7.5 hours. In contrast, three-quarters of all public charter ET schools operate a school day that is longer than 7.5 hours, and nearly half of all charter ET schools operate a school day that is longer than 8 hours. This difference is particularly apparent at the elementary and middle school levels, where charter ET schools are much more likely than traditional district ET schools to offer a school day longer than 8 hours . Charter ET schools are also more likely than traditional district ET schools to offer a longer school year. While nearly one-third of charter ET schools operate with yearly schedules that are at least 10 days longer than surrounding schools, only 10 percent of traditional district ET schools fall in this category.
Charter ET schools offer more total time in school per year that traditional district ET schools. Charter ET schools in the NCTL Database offer on average 100 more hours per year than traditional district ET schools in the database. Charter ET schools are also more likely to offer both a longer school day (8+ hours) and a longer school year (>187 days) than traditional district ET schools. Over 41 percent of charter schools fall in both these categories, while only 17 percent of traditional district schools do. By contrast, 81 percent of traditional district ET schools have both the shortest school year (<181 days) and the shortest school day (< 7.5 hours).

Images via the National Center on Time & Learning. See the full infographic here.

Click here for more information.

Are-Newer-Studies-Finding-Greater-Charter-School-Performance-Effects003F

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The recent CREDO study of New Jersey charter schools showed positive results for charter schools across the state, and really quite remarkable results for charter schools in Newark (read more about the study here, here, and here). The findings come on the heels of a couple of additional reports from CREDO since the large study in 2009 that showed positive results for charter schools in Indiana/Indianapolis and New York City.

Here’s our prediction: studies that show positive results for charter schools may be foreshadowing positive results to come. And we make this prediction based on evidence from studies over the past decade. Take a look at the figure below.

The figure plots out the impact from charter school studies released, by year, that qualified for the Betts & Tang meta-analysis, with the addition of significant studies released in 2011 and 2012. All of the studies used student-level, longitudinal data to compare the performance of students enrolled in charter schools with their counterparts in traditional public schools. The large circles indicate results from studies that used randomized field trial lottery designs and the smaller circles are results from studies that used other quasi-experimental research designs (e.g., student fixed-effects, student matching). The triangles represent results that were not statistically significant, but are included to demonstrate the direction of results. The dotted lines represent the overall effect sizes (ES) from the meta-analysis, by grade level and subject area.

The distribution of effect sizes indicates that findings from high-quality studies on charter school performance are trending positive, and getting bigger in more recent years. The dotted lines, which show the overall effect sizes from the meta-analysis, confirm this trend. In general, the meta-analysis found positive and statistically significant results from charter school studies for elementary and middle school grades. So it would not be a surprise if future studies show a similar pattern.

What could explain the upward trajectory in charter school performance effects in newer studies? There are a lot of possible explanations—here are just a few:

The charter school sector is maturing. While making sure that low-performing charter schools are closed is a priority (see NACSA’s One Million Lives Campaign), authorizers, charter support organizations, up-and-coming school leaders, and charter schools that want to replicate are getting better at identifying the charter schools that will result in high quality learning environments. In other words, the charter sector is learning how to replicate success and take it to scale.

Other explanations are aligned with the research itself:

Newer studies are using better data. The data in the more recent studies include longer spans of academic years, as well as data from more recent years. And the studies include data from more states. Up to early 2009 when NAPCS released this charter school research synthesis, the years covered in studies only went through 2006-07 and 14 states out of 40 with charter schools had been examined. Now, the newer studies are examining charter schools through the most recent year of available data (2010-11) and including more states (up to 23 states at last count). The possible implication of this is twofold: 1) studies that use more years of data are able to capture charter schools operating longer, and as charter schools are around longer, they get better; 2) the inclusion of more states (with newer data) means that the early results from just a handful of states don’t outweigh the impact of charter schools in more locations.
Studies have become more sophisticated, using research designs that control for selection bias and student demographics.

Click here for more information.

Analysis-of-the-Washington-State-Public-Charter-School-Ballot-Measure

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Education Week's Charters & Choice blog featured analysis of voting patterns on Washington state's narrowly approved public charter schools measure.

Central to the analysis was a county-by-county breakdown of the presidential race (below)...

...compared to the tallies for the ballot measure (below).

The results of the ballot measure defied some traditional partisan, geographic splits within the state. Check out the original Charters & Choice blog for the full analysis and commentary.
Click here for more information.

Media-Round-Up

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Charter school group calls for tougher laws,” Nina Rees (President and CEO) quoted in USA Today, Nov. 28

News to Know

“Michigan Bill Would Require Districts to Offer Vacant Buildings to Charters,” Livingston Daily, Nov. 30
“A New Campaign for Public Charter School Accountability,” Education Week, Nov. 29
“Study: New Jersey Charter Students Outperform District Peers,” Education Week, Nov. 28
“Public Charter Schools Among Race to the Top Finalists,” Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, Nov. 27
“Charter Advocates Lobby to Restore Tax Credit for Facilities,” Education Week, Nov. 26

Audience Favorites

Facebook— Congrats to Christian Sanchez, a 16-year-old Capital City Public Charter School student, who received the 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from First Lady Michelle Obama. Learn more about Christian's award here: http://www.galatheatre.org/galita.php?cmd=loadEvent&id=124

Twitter— RT @benbwieder: Nina Rees of @charteralliance says 150 charter schools closed last year, evidence of good charter accountability #EIA12

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Creating-High-Performing-Charters-to-Transform-Lives

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Today, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) made an important statement: it’s time to focus on quality.

In its new campaign, NACSA will support authorizers as they close failing charter schools and open twice as many excellent ones. The goal is to provide an additional 1 million students an education in high-quality public charter schools.

To accomplish the goal, NACSA will urge states to improve charter school laws so that they:

1.) Set clear expectations for the performance of public charter schools;
2.) Hold authorizers accountable for the schools they oversee; and
3.) Create statewide authorizers, which are more likely to promote quality growth.

Several hundred public charter schools will need to close under this renewed focus on quality, but NACSA says that the changes are necessary to ensure the charter sector will grow successfully in the long term.

“The charter school idea is predicated on the notion that in exchange for autonomy and freedom from bureaucratic rules, schools would face closure if they fail to meet their academic goals,” said Nina S. Rees, the president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “I fully support that and support the efforts of authorizers to get it right, whatever the numbers may be. I also support NACSA's efforts to promote growth and quality at the same time and to push policies that will help ensure that every charter public school is a high-quality school.”

Click here for more about the 1 million lives campaign – or follow #1millionlives on Twitter. You can find additional media coverage of the 1 million lives campaign at the Huffington Post, Education Week, and Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Image via NACSA website

Click here for more information.

Ten-Percent-of-Race-to-the-Top-District-Finalists-are-Charter-Local-Education-Agencies

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The U.S. Department of Education released the list of 61 finalists for the Race to the Top District (RTT-D) finalists, which included six charter local education agencies (LEAs). The RTT-D competition expects to award 15-25 grants to LEAs to build on the lessons learned from the State RTT competitions, to support locally directed improvements in learning and teaching that will directly improve student achievement and educator effectiveness. Of the nearly 80 charter LEA applicants, six were selected as finalists, including the Green Dot schools of California, the KIPP DC schools, and three charter management organizations in Texas: Harmony Public Schools, Idea Public Schools, and Uplift Education. The sixth charter finalist is the Morgan County Charter School System, a traditional district in which all of the schools converted to public charter status in 2011. In addition to these six applicants, there may be charter schools without LEA status participating in their LEAs application—this information will be available following the announcement of the winning applications.

NAPCS congratulates these six LEAs and all of the finalists for the RTT-D competition. For more information on the RTT-D program, and all of the finalists, visit the Department of Education’s website.

Click here for more information.

SABIS®-Schools:-Global-Lessons-in-Education-Partnerships

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS is pleased to launch a guest blog series which will feature contributions by leading international education experts. The goal of this series is to expose our readers to the challenges and successes of establishing charter schools in different parts of the world.

The role and purpose of education – particularly in the public sector – has changed drastically with the coming of the Information Age. What started out as a means to prepare youth to take over in a trade is now a much different beast saddled with seemingly insurmountable challenges and a distinct element of the unknown, not to mention expectations that have set it up as the panacea for all manner of national woes – national security and economic stability, just to name a couple. Today education is tasked with preparing students with the knowledge and skills they will need to use in jobs that do not even exist. A large enough undertaking for schools operating in the private sector, the scope of this task is exponentially greater in public schools educating the masses. In this context, the scope of the task is not only greater; it is also ESSENTIAL as nations seek ways to secure their place in the global economy moving forward.

Looking to improve national education standards, the U.S. has been a global leader, drafting public charter school legislation in the mid-1990s and introducing the concepts such as parental choice, accountability, and competition in public education. In the years since, the U.S. charter school approach has been used as a reference for public-private partnership in education; some countries mirroring its approach, others setting out on their own to blaze their own path to raise standards.

As a global education organization with 126 years of experience, SABIS® has been involved in the providing education in the public sector since 1995, when it was awarded the management of its first public charter school in Springfield, Massachusetts. Today, SABIS® manages nine charter schools and licenses its proprietary educational system to five others. SABIS® experience in public-private partnerships (PPP), however, is not limited to the U.S. We have accumulated valuable experience and perspective as participants in PPP projects around the world.

The most promising PPP project that SABIS® is involved in – it may surprise you to learn – is in Kurdistan, the semi-autonomous region of northern Iraq, where SABIS® currently operates seven public schools in a project that originated in 2009. The Kurdish leadership at the time realized that spiraling public education costs were not yielding the desired results in the short or long term for the region. With surprisingly short school days, a degree of complacency among administrators, teachers, and staff, and no option for parental choice, there was room to improve the system. To address these issues, the Kurdish government sought out SABIS® and together developed a PPP model. SABIS® would take over existing K-2 or K-3 public schools, including staff, and provide training to staff in instructional methods as well as the English language. In contract periods of three to five years, SABIS® would manage the school, extending the grade levels offered each subsequent year, with the goal of instilling autonomy.

The strength of this PPP comes in the fact that it is not saddled with unnecessary – and many times unfair – barriers to entry and hurdles that have marred other countries’ attempts at private sector engagement as a means to raise education standards.

So what does the Kurdistan PPP have that others have missed the mark on? First, and most importantly, in Kurdistan private sector engagement in public education is approached as a true partnership. In Kurdistan, the private operator is allowed to operate in an environment of free enterprise, encouraging the principles of efficiency, accountability, and return on investment and transferring these benefits to schools and students. Second, unlike the public charter school model in the U.S., the operator is not hampered by legislation that imposes accountability through boards that do not have a skin in the game. The private operator is held fully accountable, flourishing by its own hand or floundering its way out of a job as dissatisfied parents withdraw their children from the school. Third, unlike public-private partnerships attempted in other countries, in Kurdistan the private operator is not distracted from the job of raising standards by nationally hired “experts” who have a financial incentive to continually move the yard-stick they require operators to measure up to. Fourth, in Kurdistan, the funding formula is respected. Funding of the school operation is taken care of by the government based on a mutually-approved budget. The operator is paid for its services from within the budget, allowing the operator to concentrate solely on the performance of students rather than worry about unexpected funding reductions mid-year. And finally, in Kurdistan, the private operator does not face perhaps the largest barrier to entry – access to and availability of facilities. The government works in true partnership with the private provider by providing the necessary facilities necessary to deliver the sought-after results.

If we are to take a serious look at raising education standards of the masses, governments around the world need to learn from the Kurdistan model of private sector engagement in public education. Only in the spirit of true partnership will we be able to leverage the experiences, resources, and motivation of the private sector to raise education standards and tackle the most pressing issue of our time.

To learn more about SABIS®’s experience in Kurdistan as well as the organization’s long history and approach to education, read the latest book by renowned U.K. author and education policy expert, James Tooley. From Village School to Global Brand: Changing the World through Education is available online from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Image: Author Carl Bistany

Carl Bistany is a board member of SABIS® Holdings and the president of two education management companies, SABIS® Educational Services s.a.l. and SABIS® Educational Systems, Inc. These two companies manage schools within the SABIS® School Network, which currently serves Pre-K, K-12 schools, and a university located in fifteen countries on four continents.

Since joining SABIS® in 1992, Mr. Bistany has led the fourth generation family-owned business and transitioned it into a globally-recognized, professionally-managed enterprise at the forefront of education management. In addition to his active involvement as president of SABIS®, he has been instrumental in pursuing the expansion of the SABIS® School Network in the private sector in various countries as well as into the Public-Private-Partnership arena in the U.A.E, U.S., U.K., and Kurdistan.

Mr. Bistany holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Mathematics and the other in Computer Science from Syracuse University, NY. He is also a Harvard alumnus, having completed the Harvard Business School Executive Education Owner/President Manager program. He serves as a board member of several organizations including the Advisory Board of the Institute of Family and Entrepreneurial Business at the Lebanese American University and the Chief Executives Organization. He was the founding Chairman of the Lebanese Chapter of the Young President Organization (YPO) as well as the World Presidents’ Organization (WPO). He has also served as a senior member of the Executive Board of the Institute for Social and Economic Policy in the Middle East at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is a member of the World Bank Advisory Group on Engaging the Private Sector and is a sought-after speaker at global education conferences and events.
Click here for more information.

UK-Free-Schools-and-Academies-Draw-on-U.S.-Public-Charter-School-Model

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Image: Author Tony McAleavy, Education Director of CfBT Education Trust

Tony is CfBT’s Education Director, with corporate oversight of the educational impact of all our activities. Tony also has responsibility for corporate business development and advises the Trustees on CfBT's public domain research programme. He has played a major part in the development of our international consultancy practice, and he has worked extensively on our growing portfolio of education reform projects in the Middle East. Prior to joining CfBT, Tony held senior school and local authority posts in England. He has published extensively on the subject of school history teaching and has an MA in Modern History from St John’s College, University of Oxford.

Click here for more information.

Public-Charter-Schools-Serve-as-Models-Beyond-the-U.S.

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) is pleased to launch a guest blog series which will feature contributions by leading international education experts. The goal of this series is to expose our readers to the challenges and successes of establishing charter schools in different parts of the world. Our contributors have experience in charters schools either as providers or in the case of Cecilia Maria Velez, former Minister of Education for Colombia, spearheading programs which improved educational quality by allowing private agents to operate public schools serving low-income students.

This series take our readers on a tour well beyond our borders by looking at adaptations of the public charter school model in the United Kingdom and Kurdistan. We begin our series with a contribution by Tony McAleavy, Education Director, CfBT Education Trust, U.K. followed by Carl Bistany, board member of SABIS® Holdings and President, SABIS® Educational Services s.a.l. and SABIS® Educational Systems, Inc.

As Manager of the new EdAdvance education resource (formerly EdInvest), it gives me great pleasure to highlight the global impact made by the public charter school model. To receive newsletters and bulletins about developments in the international education market, please write to: edadvancecontact@gmail.com. Our website will be operational shortly.

Click here for more information.

From-Las-Vegas-to-Philadelphia,-NAPCS-Report-on-Growing-Charter-School-Enrollment-Noted

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

News outlets across the country responded to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools’ report on rising enrollments in public charter schools nationwide. Dan Tafoya, director of the charter school office for Nevada’s Clark County School District, which saw a 64 percent increase in public charter school enrollment—the highest growth of any metropolitan area in the country—told the Las Vegas Sun his district sees charters as “incubators of innovation and pioneers in education.” In a press release, NAPCS President and CEO Nina Rees said: “The increase in public charter-school enrollment in all types of communities across America shows that parent demand for school options continues to grow. These numbers will continue to rise as teachers and parents work together to provide high-quality options in communities across America.” In the National Review, Jillian Kay Melchior said of the 13 percent increase in public charter school enrollment nationwide: “Sounds like a mandate to me.”

Additional coverage of the NAPCS report can be found in: New York Times, Huffington Post, Education Week, Boston Globe, Phoenix Business Journal, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Miami Herald, Minnesota Public Radio, EdSource, 8 News Now, Education Week, Philadelphia Public School Notebook, Youngstown Vindicator, Arizona Republic, Tucson Citizen, Kansas City Star, Boston Business Journal, Milwaukee Business Journal, FOX 59, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Memphis Daily, The Epoch Times, Detroit News, Plain Dealer, Herald-Sun, WEAU

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Districts-with-the-Highest-Growth-of-Public-Charter-School-Students

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Here’s the list of districts with the highest growth of students attending public charter schools between the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years, from our annual market share report. (We calculated growth for the 50 school districts with the largest number of students attending charter schools.)

Strong Charter School Growth in Districts with Large Numbers of Public Charter School Students: Among the 50 districts with the largest charter school student enrollments, 29 districts had growth in the number of students enrolled in public charters by 10 percent or more between the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years. The Clark County School district experienced the largest growth (64 percent) in the number of charter school students enrolled, primarily due to four new charter schools opening there in the 2011-2012 school year.
Three School Districts Repeat Top Growth Two Years in a Row. Three school districts made the list for highest percentage growth in public charter school students for two consecutive years: Los Angeles, Memphis, and New York City. Enrollment in public charter schools in these three school districts grew by 52,502 students between 2009-2010 and 2011-2012, a two year growth rate of 52 percent.

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Districts-with-the-Highest-Number-of-Public-Charter-School-Students

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Here’s the list of districts with the highest number of students attending public charter schools, from our annual market share report. The top 10 districts remained the same between the 2012 and 2011 reports, but there was a little bit of movement among the districts. New York City experienced the biggest change, moving from #4 to #2 between 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.

Los Angeles Again Tops the List in Number of Public Charter School Students: Nearly 100,000 students attended public charter schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District during the 2011-2012 school year, the highest number for any school district in the country. The number of students enrolled in public charter schools in Los Angeles, alone, would place the Los Angeles charter schools in the top 30 of the 100 largest school districts in the United States. Public charter schools in Los Angeles enrolled 19,191 more students in 2011-2012 than in 2010-2011, a growth rate of 24 percent. Charter school growth is likely to continue in Los Angeles with the board voting against a moratorium on charter schools.
Ten School Districts with Largest Number of Students Enroll Significant Percentage of Charter School Sector. The 10 districts with the largest number of students in public charter schools represent 22.9 percent of the total public charter school population nationwide—a total of 458,215 students out of roughly 2 million. Between the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years, the top ten districts increased public charter school enrollment by over 62,000 students, a growth rate of 16 percent.

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Enrollment in Charter Schools Is Increasing,” Nina Rees (President and CEO) quoted in the New York Times, Nov. 14
“Charter Schools Grow Rapidly, Adding 200,000 Students: Report,” Nina Rees quoted in Huffington Post, Nov. 14
“Charters' District Enrollment Shares Rising, Report Finds,” Nina Rees quoted in Education Week, Nov. 14
“New Report Identifies 110 Districts with 10 Percent of Students Enrolled in Public Charter Schools,” Nina Rees statement in PRNewswire press release, Nov. 14

News to Know

“In Georgia and Washington, a New Future for ‘Local Control’ of Schools," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov. 16
“Diverse Charter Schools: the Next Big Idea?” Education Next, Nov. 15
“NAPCS Report: Enrollment in Public Charter Schools Rises Nationwide,” Boston Globe, Nov. 14
“On Election Day, School Choice Victories,” Wall Street Journal, Nov. 13
“In Georgia, Looking Ahead After Passage of Charter Schools Amendment,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, Nov. 12

Audience Favorites

Facebook— For the first time, more than 100 school districts have 10 percent of their students enrolled in public charter schools. Is your district on our list of highest percentage, number or growth in students served by public charter schools? Check out our infographic and report: http://www.publiccharters.org/Blog/Default.aspx?id=297

Twitter— @CRPE_UW: @charteralliance report on charter enrollment growth: 25 districts have at least 20% of their students in charters ow.ly/fimVj

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Districts-with-the-Highest-Percentage-of-Public-Charter-School-Students

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Yesterday we released our annual market share report. To compile the list of school districts with the highest market share, we collected public school enrollment data to find districts where the largest proportions of students are attending public charter schools.

New Orleans Remains Number One in Market Share: An astounding 76 percent of public school students in New Orleans attended public charter schools in the 2011-2012 school year. Not only are charters in New Orleans serving a higher percentage of public school students than anywhere else in the nation, they are also the highest performing sector of public schools in the city. Even more impressive, New Orleans charter schools are approaching the average state achievement levels in Louisiana, an accomplishment rarely achieved by urban public schools.
District of Columbia and Detroit Tied for Second in Market Share: For the past four years, charter schools in the District of Columbia held the second spot for largest charter school market share nationwide. In the 2011-2012 school year, D.C. shared that spot with Detroit Public Schools. However, D.C. may pull ahead again in 2012-2013, with early indicators of charter enrollment rising to 35,000 students.
Eight New School Districts Join the Ranks of Top Market Share: Eight school districts that were not on the list for top market share percentage in the last report made it onto the list for 2011-2012. The districts included: San Antonio, Indianapolis, Roosevelt, Ariz., Adams County 50, Colo., Grand Rapids, Mich., Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Phoenix Union High, Ariz.
Seven School Districts Reach at Least 30 Percent Market Share: For the 2011-2012 academic year, St. Louis (31 percent) joined New Orleans (76 percent), Detroit (41 percent), District of Columbia (41 percent), Kansas City, Mo. (37 percent), Flint, Mich., (33 percent) and Gary, Ind. (31 percent) with at least 30 percent of public school students enrolled in public charter schools. However, with the closure of the Imagine charter schools in St. Louis after the 2011-2012 school year, it is unlikely that St. Louis will stay on the list in the next report.

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A-Growing-Movement:-America’s-Largest-Charter-School-Communities-%287th-Edition%29

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Today we released the seventh edition of our annual market share report, A Growing Movement: America’s Largest School Communities. This year marks unprecedented nationwide growth for public charter schools. For the first time ever, 110 school districts have 10 percent of their students enrolled in public charter schools in the 2011-2012 academic year (96 in 2010-2011). A record 25 school districts have more than 20 percent of students enrolled in charter schools, and seven school districts enroll at least 30 percent of public school students in charter schools. Back in 2006, when we first released the report, there were six school districts with more than 20 percent and only one district with more than 30 percent of students enrolled in charter schools.

There wasn’t any movement in the top spots for market share and total charter enrollment: New Orleans remains number one with 76 percent of students enrolled in charter schools and Los Angeles keeps the top spot with nearly 100,000 students attending charter schools. Clark County rocketed to the top of the list of high growth with 64 percent more students attending charter schools in 2011-2012 than in the previous academic year.

The map below presents data from the three lists of school districts with the highest charter school market share, enrollment, and growth. The geographic display of the data shows that school districts with high concentrations of students enrolled in charter schools are more likely to be located in the Midwest and Northeast regions of the country (the green bubbles). In contrast, a large portion of the districts with high growth in the number of charter school students are located in the South and West regions (the orange bubbles). School districts with large numbers of students enrolled in charter schools are spread out across the nation (the blue bubbles).

Enrollment in charter schools is on the rise because they are demonstrating that success is possible even in neighborhoods where some schools have been failing for generations.

Click here for a higher resolution version of the map below.

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Conference-Focuses-on-Charter-and-District-Public-School-Collaboration

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

“Collaboration and partnerships can be powerful multipliers of innovations.”

Last week, NAPCS was proud to co-host the second National Best Cooperative Practices between Charter & Traditional Public Schools Conference (NBCP Conference) in Denver, Colorado. One of the foundational principles of the public charter school model is that charter schools use their autonomy to serve as laboratories of innovation; road testing promising practices that would then be shared with the traditional schools for maximum impact. The NBCP Conference was designed to showcase examples of cooperative practices that serve as models for replications and spark ideas for how all sectors of public education can work together.

Schools from throughout the country shared their practices during breakout sessions on topics including: curriculum and instruction; performance and accountability; college and career readiness; facilities; operations; and services. The general and breakout sessions demonstrated:

Examples of cooperation on a small scale
How charters can help fill gaps to address needs in the local public education space
Where there is strong district leadership supporting charters, there are more opportunities
Where charters are considered equal partners in educating kids, cooperation and collaboration happen naturally

Image: Keynote speaker Don Shalvey

A panel discussion on barriers to charter and traditional public school collaboration identified the following ground rules for cooperative work:

This work is inherently political
Build relationships to build trust
Educate past the myths about charter and district interests
Focus on mutual wins

Image: “Anticipating and Overcoming Obstacles to Collaboration” Panel Discussion

While nobody at the conference claimed this work is easy, there was consistent testimony by both charter leaders and school district representatives that the effort to work with traditional schools broadened their impact. Further, in several instances, cooperation with district schools was an explicit part of the charter school’s mission. This seemed particularly true for successful standalone charters that wanted to magnify their impact without replicating their school. Please visit the NBCP Conference webpage to learn more about public schools working together.

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Education Ballot Initiative Results Show Mixed Returns On School Reform,” Nina Rees (President and CEO) quoted in the Huffington Post, Nov. 7
“NAPCS President & CEO Nina Rees on the 2012 Election,” Nina Rees statement printed in the Sacramento Bee, Nov. 7
“Sick of the Presidential Race? Here Are 2 Education Ballot Measures to Watch,” Nina Rees (President and CEO) quoted in The Atlantic, Nov. 5
“NAPCS CEO Interviews Khan Academy Founder,” Nina Rees (President and CEO) interview on C-SPAN2, Nov. 5

News to Know

“D.C. Charters’ Graduation Rate Continues to Be Well Above District’s” Washington Post, Nov. 9
“Results Still Unclear For Washington State Charter Initiative,” Seattle Times, Nov. 8
“Georgia Voters Approve Charter School Amendment,” Marietta Daily Journal and Anderson Independent Mail, Nov. 7
“All Eyes on Georgia, Washington as Voters Consider Charter School Initiatives,” CNN, Nov. 6
“Charters Called ‘Pioneers’ in Reform,” Albuquerque Journal, Nov. 5

Audience Favorites

Facebook—Charters Win Big in Election: In Georgia, voters sent a clear message that they want public school options that are unique partnerships between teachers, parents, and students and that respond to the specific needs of their communities.

Twitter— @charteralliance Charters on the Ballot: The public charter school movement will be a winner either way in today’s Presidential election

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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President-Obama-and-Governor-Romney-Agree:-Expand-Public-Charter-Schools

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In bitterly partisan times, support for the expansion of high quality public charter schools is one of the few areas of agreement between the presidential candidates. While the means of each candidate’s education plans differ, the end goal—giving parents more choice through public charter schools—is common ground. Here’s a sampling of articles from the past two weeks that highlight Obama and Romney’s support for public charter schools:

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Charters-on-the-Ballot

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The public charter school movement will be a winner either way in today’s Presidential election.

Both President Obama and Governor Romney are long-time supporters of the innovative public schools that give parents options that traditional public schools do not.

But they’re not the only ones on the ballot who are supporters of public charters.

In North Carolina, gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory promises to “address the thousands of families on waiting lists for charter schools in addition to the dozens of charter schools waiting to open.”

And Rob McKenna, a candidate for governor in Washington state, supports “highly innovative public charter schools” and would draw from models that have been successful elsewhere.

In Delaware, incumbent Jack Markell signed a bill last year to improve accountability for charter schools.

And Missouri’s incumbent Jay Nixon supported a bill to strengthen accountability for charter schools and their authorizers.

And voters and Georgia and Washington state will have the chance to have their voices heard about the future of charters in their states.

In Washington, voters will have the chance to make the state the 42nd to have a charter school law – one that would create up to 40 schools in the next five years. In Georgia, voters have the chance to re-instate a state board to hear appeals from charter applicants that have been rejected by their local school board. (See more here and here.)

In Georgia, voters have the chance to amend the state’s constitution.

For more education news in the election, see Education Week’s voter guide and Whiteboard Adviser’s gubernatorial and legislative summaries.

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Duncan Needs Four More Years,” Nina Rees (President and CEO) response on the National Journal Education Experts Blog, Oct. 29

News to Know

“Controversy Over Charter Schools Lands on State Ballots,” The Nation, Nov. 2
“Obama, Romney both support charter schools,” Dayton Daily News, Nov. 1
“Practical Hurdles at Play in Pa. Charter-Law Stumble,” Education Week, Oct. 31
“Georgia get's A's for monitoring charter schools,” WSB Radio, Oct. 30
“Well-heeled S.A. effort aims for more charter schools — lots more,” San Antonio Express-News, Oct. 29

Audience Favorites

Facebook— It's a scary reality that one out of every four kids trick or treating this Halloween won't graduate high school in four years. As independent public schools that are designed to boost student achievement, public charter schools are working to address this pressing issue.

Twitter— @Ninacharters explains the importance of parent trigger laws on @usnews

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Diversity-in-Public-Charter-Schools

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This week, a USA Today piece looks at a trend of white urban middle-class parents sticking with city schools. While it is noted that this trend is mostly isolated to major East Coast cities, and thus a minority of the public school population, it is still an opportunity for more racial and socioeconomic diversity to occur in urban schools. Several public charter schools have been launched with a specific school mission to serve a diverse student population. The USA Today article focuses on Brooklyn Prospect Charter School and charter school being launched in New Orleans by veteran educator Josh Densen. You can learn more about public charter schools serving diverse student bodies in our issue brief.
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Emerging-Themes-from-2012-Charter-School-Authorizing-Conference

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) just wrapped up its annual leadership conference in Memphis, Tennessee. At the conference, NACSA announced a “One Million Lives” campaign that will focus on working with authorizers to close failing charters and open twice as many high quality schools to provide one million students higher quality school options over the next five years. So it is no surprise that the major areas of discussion at the conference were around the nuances of charter school closures and the strategies for identifying and supporting good, new charter schools.

School Closures: There is general consensus that closing failing charter schools is critical—no one is arguing to change the charter bargain of autonomy in exchange for accountability. But in reality, not enough under-performing charter schools have been shut down (NACSA reports that the closure rate for charters up for renewal in 2010-11 was 6.2 percent, down from 8.8 percent in 2009-10 and 12.6 percent in 2008-09). As one panelist put it, “If [the charter sector] doesn’t deal with the closure issue, we’ll become the same blob we’re trying to replace.” So, what ideas are percolating?

Automatic or default closure mandates. Change state laws or authorizing practices to establish firm cutoffs (e.g.,priority schools as defined by ESEA) where a charter school is not granted additional time to attempt a turn-around. (Addressed in NAPCS’ Fulfilling the Compact report.)
Develop and implement performance frameworks to monitor charter achievement. And even better, use the same performance framework to make tough decisions about both charters and traditional public schools (e.g., Denver Public Schools).
Differentiated charter renewal contracts. Rather than giving charter schools 5, 10, or 15 year contracts, authorizers can develop short term contracts for schools that need to improve to fulfill the goals outlined in their charters.
Find ways to get authorizers and charter support organizations to work together to ensure that necessary closures happen.

Of course, the closure conversation involves caveats. Closure decisions have to take into account context, such as schools with high percentages of alternative education students.

Opening and Replicating High Quality Charters: There has been a good amount of talk among authorizers about dealing with the quality issue by just approving good schools on the front end. Easier said than done, right? Here are some of the ideas discussed:

Charter school incubators allow more time for structured and thoughtful new school development (for example, The Mind Trust, New Schools for New Orleans, and Tennessee Charter School Incubator).
Authorizers are concerned about performing their due diligence when it comes to replicating networks or schools operated by management organizations. Moreover, there appears to be a realization that the authorizer becomes a partner of sorts when approving significant numbers of campuses from one network, because there is more to lose if the schools do not perform well.

Relevant to both of these themes, CREDO presented new data suggesting that charter school performance in the first two years of existence is a very good predictor of future performance. While the details of the analyses need to be ironed out, the study has practical implications for authorizers. Specifically, charter schools that do not show evidence that they can produce substantive levels of positive growth in student performance within two years are unlikely to make significant improvements in future years. Authorizers can use this body of evidence to support tough closure decisions.

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“Parent Trigger Laws Give Parents the Power They Deserve,” Nina Rees (President and CEO) op-ed on the U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 26
“Opinion: School Choice on the Ballot,” Nina Rees video interview with the Wall Street Journal, Oct. 25
“Savannah, Chatham voters to decide who should authorize charter schools,” Todd Ziebarth (Sr. VP State Advocacy) quoted in Savannah Morning News Oct. 20

News to Know

On November 6th, voters in Georgia and Washington will vote on state legislation impacting the future of public charter schools in their respective states. The Charter Blog collected supportive op-eds, editorials and letters to the editor in both states from the past two weeks. Additional news coverage includes:

“Georgia Judge Dismisses Anti-Charter Campaign Case,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Oct. 26
“Georgia Judge Issues No Ruling on Charter Campaign Injunction Request,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Oct. 25
“Former Foe Now Embraces Charter Schools in Washington State,” Seattle Times, Oct. 24
“Georgia State Senator: Charter Amendment Will Inject Competition into System,” Atlanta Journal Constitution, Oct. 23
“Initiative 1240: Charting a New Course in Washington State?,” Olympian, Oct. 22

Audience Favorites

Facebook— In a Marietta Daily Journal op-ed, retired high school teacher and former Georgia state legislator Roger Hines explains why he now supports a constitutional amendment to restore the state’s power to approve and fund public charter schools. “I must break rank from the educational establishment and support the constitutional amendment because the time has come for a new order,” Hines writes.

Twitter— @charteralliance GA & WA voters will decide on legislation impacting the future of public charter schools in their states. bit.ly/P2J9Ju #WApol#GApol

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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Support-for-Public-Charter-Schools-in-Georgia-and-Washington-State

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

On November 6th, voters in Georgia and Washington will vote on state legislation impacting the future of public charter schools in their respective states. In the past two weeks, there has been an outpouring of supportive op-eds, editorials and letters to the editor in both states. You can learn more about the legislation in Georgia and Washington through the linked pro-charter organizations.

Georgia

Oct. 22 On an Atlanta Journal Constitution blog, Georgia state Sen. Fran Millar argues in favor of the constitutional amendment to restore the state’s power to approve and fund public charter schools. Millar points out that the amendment “primarily deals with charter schools created by the state after a local school board turns down the application."

Oct. 21 According to the Savannah Morning News, the proposal would prevent local school districts from denying approval to highly-qualified applicants. “There are 160 districts in Georgia that refuse to approve any charter schools,” said Tony Roberts, Georgia Charter Schools Association chief executive officer.

Oct. 21 In a Marietta Daily Journal op-ed, retired high school teacher and former Georgia state legislator Roger Hines explains why he now the amendment to restore the state’s power to approve and fund public charter schools. “Which is more local, a board of education making educational decisions for parents, or parents making those decisions for themselves?”

Oct. 21 In a Macon Telegraph op-ed, CNN contributor and Atlanta radio talk show host Erick Erickson points to flawed logic used by those who argue against restoring Georgia’s right to approve and fund public charter schools at the state level, a right now only extended to local school districts. “Charter school opponents believe the very same school systems that are failing our children should be the sole authority on creating their own competition,” Erickson writes.

Oct. 18 In a Marietta Daily Journal op-ed, Georgia Charter Schools Association president and CEO Tony Roberts argues that the amendment would restore the state’s authority to approve and fund public charter schools. “Independent charter schools have the most basic form of local control — parents.”

Oct. 18 In a letter to the Cherokee Tribune, Lyn Michaels-Carden of the Georgia Charter Educational Foundation writes that the debate is “a passionate subject that goes to the basic instinct of parents, what’s best for our kids and who is best to decide that.”

Oct. 17 On the Getting Smart blog, Alisa Hug, the Director of the Board of PublicSchoolOptions.org, says the amendment would give the state authority to create and oversee charter schools. “With various public charter school options available – from brick and mortar schools to online schools, to blended learning options, we have the tools to meet the individualized learning needs of all students. Let’s not fail them.”

Oct. 13 According to the Augusta Chronicle, a recent poll shows Georgia voters closely divided over the amendment. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll showed 45 percent of likely voters supporting the amendment and 42 percent opposed. An additional 13 percent said they did not know about the amendment or did not answer the question.

Washington

Oct. 23 According to the Seattle Times, Lisa Macfarlane, Washington state director of Democrats for Education Reform, campaigned against a ballot measure to bring public charter schools to Washington 16 years ago. Now, she supports Initiative 1240, which would allow the establishment of up 40 public charter schools statewide. She became curious about President Obama’s pro- charter stance and visited several charters serving low-income children. "You wish more kids could have that option," she said. In her current work promoting I- 1240, Macfarlane is now trying to change other voters’ minds. “We've got to do better by a group of kids that aren't faring well in our traditional public schools," she said.

Oct. 23 The Yakima Herald-Republic urges Washington state voters to approve I-1240. Critics of the measure have pointed to “big money” donated from the founders of Microsoft and Amazon.com. “This is big money, true,” the editorial board writes, “ — big money from state companies that have a vested interest in a high-quality public-school system.”

Oct. 21 According to the Olympian, Washington voters will decide whether the state will allow the establishment public charter schools when they vote on Initiative 1240 on the November 6 ballot. Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington, said charter authorizers can ensure that schools have “strict accountability requirements that most public schools don’t have.”

Oct. 21 In a Seattle Times op-ed, University of Washington Tacoma associate professor of economics Katie Baird writes: “I-1240 is carefully designed to maximize the chance of creating high-performing schools.”

Oct. 13 The Seattle Times editorial board urges Washington state voters to approve I- 1240, which would allow the creation of 40 public charter schools statewide. “We need both charter public schools, where principals are given latitude to pick teachers, shape budget priorities and tailor curriculum to students, and good traditional schools willing to innovate…We cannot continue to put off change because it is uncomfortable and challenges the status quo.”

Oct. 13 Seattle Times editorial page editor Kate Riley notes in her op-ed that public charter schools are also an issue in the governor’s race. Republican Rob McKenna supports charters; Democratic challenger Jay Inslee does not. Riley writes: “On education, Washington needs leadership that is open to possibilities — whether charter schools or the levy swap — that can move the state forward.”

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Pushing-the-boundaries-of-virtual-teaching-and-learning-at-Myron-B.-Thompson-Academy

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS is using the Charter Blog to feature public charter schools that prepare students for college using a range of instructional strategies. NAPCS asked school leaders to tell us in their own words how they use different instructional methods to create a “college-prep” focus. By combining data on instructional strategies from a national survey with on the ground stories of the work of charter schools, NAPCS wants to show the scope of possibilities in how charter schools can provide great learning environments for students.

Myron B. Thompson Academy (MBTA) recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. The school, which began as an idea in a white paper on virtual learning back in the early 1990s, has blossomed into the oldest online school in Hawaii. Test scores are stellar, the curriculum is rigorous, teachers and students are thriving, and dynamic change is always in the air.

At Thompson Academy, grade 7-12 CORE courses are taught online, while many electives are face-to-face. Five years ago, the school realized that “canned” courses, with computer-graded quizzes were not adequately preparing students. The redesign of curriculum began with grade 7. Select teachers and the curriculum director spent a year researching and developing meaningful content, interactive teaching strategies, and quality assessments. The first group to complete the redesigned curriculum is currently in the tenth grade. These students have provided input on the degree of challenge in their classes, requested the development of specific course offerings, and provided the impetus for continued curricular redesign. Most courses are now developed and field-tested by teachers with assistance from the curriculum office. Professional development is ongoing, primarily in small groups, and courses are continuously updated, using data from assessments and student comments.

A week in the life of MBTA students begins on Monday morning, with a log-in to courses and a check of the weekly plan for each class. Students work in depth and at an accelerated pace. There will be content to read, Google Docs “discussions”, WebEx sessions, homework, projects and tests. All teachers offer one-on-one live or virtual tutoring. Students may contact their teachers via e-mail, instant message, telephone, or in person. Many teachers keep the lines of communication open in the evening. The Academy has students on the four major Hawaiian Islands, so working across distances on collaborative projects is the norm.

MBTA is currently at work on the design of two Institutes for 11th and 12th graders: one in STEM, with initial courses focused on the operations of a smart grid for electrical systems, and one in humanities, offering AP courses and interdisciplinary competitions in International Extemporaneous Speaking, Debate, and History Day projects. Institutes will be both virtual and face to face. In the near future, students at Myron B. Thompson Academy will complete all required courses by the end of junior year, allowing for specialization in the senior year.

Students feed into the online secondary program from Thompson’s elementary division, which is a combination of at-home and at-school instruction. Parents and teachers work together to deliver approved curriculum to K-6 students. While the elementary is primarily “high touch” instead of “high tech”, teachers also offer virtual lessons. Students are issued iPads and use these to document their learning.

MBTA strives to be an incubator of ideas, to push the boundaries of virtual education, and to truly teach our students. We have had many successes and look forward to many more.

Sharon Abrigo, Director of Curriculum

Find Myron B. Thompson Academy on the Public Charter School Dashboard

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Teaching-the-Next-Generation-Financial-Literacy

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This blog was originally run in its entirety on the Washington Informer on October 15, 2012.

In today's economy, nearly everyone wishes that his or her personal finances were a little bit stronger. It was recently revealed that household net worth has been set back 20 years, according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finance. Financial literacy has never been a more important skill and will be even more critical for the next generation.

Unfortunately, many children are not getting the financial literacy education they will need as adults. The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy's most recent national survey, which measures the financial literacy in high schools, found that seniors answered just 48.3 percent of the financial literacy questions correctly.

Compared to other countries, things do not look any better. Currently, American students rank behind their peers in Mexico, Australia and Brazil in their knowledge of financial literacy and basic concepts like interest rates and budgeting money, according to Visa International Financial Literacy Barometer 2012.

I partner with a public charter school in Washington D.C that teaches financial literacy. The school has taught financial literacy for the past five years, partnering with the Alliance of Securities and Financial Educators—on whose board sits members of the Securities and Exchange Commission. ASAFE volunteers use a program called the Junior Achievement curriculum and model which is a good fit for the school's educational program which is based on Expeditionary Learning, which emphasizes learning by solving problems as a superior approach to rote learning.

Educators at our school believe that adults not talking to children about money cause financial illiteracy. Unfortunately, in too many families, talking about money is still seen as a taboo topic—or something that young people do not need to know about.

Through our six-week financial literacy program, we want to break through that barrier. The program begins with students learning the basics of budgeting, and the impact of interest rates on savings and purchasing things on credit. Along the way, students are tested by activities and competitions to reinforce what they have learned.

After students learn the basics, they next tackle more complex financial situations. As the program ends, students learn how to pull together resources to set up and operate a student-run store. In the past, this has enabled students to get real experience making decisions about whether it is the right time to expand, and learn the true costs of buying something on credit.

Our goal is to have students leave the program with an understanding of the power and risks of money. We aim to create a foundation from which they can learn to become savers, and grasp the risks and the benefits of credit.

In addition to learning an important new subject, financial literacy reinforces the lessons students absorb in math class, including the real world value of concepts like fractions and percentages. Because Two Rivers believes in making character education a key part of learning, financial literacy classes are used to highlight the importance of hard work and making responsible choices.

Our commitment to teaching financial literacy is one reason why Two Rivers' students perform strongly on the city's standardized math tests. In the District's 2012 standardized tests, Two Rivers came first in math and second in reading among all D.C. charter elementary campuses. Overall, our elementary school scored 21 percentage points higher than the average D.C. charter school and 29 percentage points higher than the average D.C. traditional public school. Our middle school scored 25 points higher than the average city-run school and 17 points higher than the average charter.

Two Rivers also was recently recognized as one of only 22 'high performing' public charter schools by the city's Public Charter School Board, because of its strong test results.

One of the reasons we are able to make a commitment to teaching financial literacy is that, as a public charter school, Two Rivers has greater freedom to set curriculum and school culture than its counterparts in D.C.'s traditional public school system...Continue reading the full article here.

Dawnyela Meredith is the Director of Out of School Time Programs for Two Rivers Public Charter School.

Find Two Rivers Elementary and Middle Public Charter School on the Public Charter School Dashboard.
Click here for more information.

Media-Round-Up

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“School Choice: A Subject Both Candidates Support,” Nina Rees (President and CEO) quoted in NPR, Oct. 13

News to Know

“Parents could seek charters at 35 Miss. Schools,” WSLS, Oct. 19
“Pa. House pulls the plug on charter school reform bill, killing the measure for this year,” Patriot-News, Oct. 18
“Anxiety High Over Charters, K-12 Aid in Wash. State,” Education Week, Oct. 17
“Pa. Senate approves some charter school regulations,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 16
“Charter school supporters say they’ll turn out in force at State Board of Education meeting in Concord,” Union Leader, Oct. 15

Audience Favorites

Facebook— The Intergenerational School in Cleveland, OH takes us on a "walk through" of their college prep instructional strategy on the Charter Blog. "We have coined the term 'intergenerativity' to denote the powerful synergy that emerges when the generations learn together. To us, this represents community service at its most profound and personal level."
http://www.publiccharters.org/Blog/Default.aspx?id=280

Twitter—MT @Part4Learning: New @KCTS9 @UW poll shows registered voters favor #charter schools 48% to 39%:washingtonpoll.org/results/kcts9w…

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

Click here for more information.

Sheridan-Japanese-School:-A-Focus-on-Culture-and-Community

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS is using the Charter Blog to feature public charter schools that prepare students for college using a range of instructional strategies. NAPCS asked school leaders to tell us in their own words how they use different instructional methods to create a “college-prep” focus. By combining data on instructional strategies from a national survey with on the ground stories of the work of charter schools, NAPCS wants to show the scope of possibilities in how charter schools can provide great learning environments for students.

Sheridan Japanese School (SJS) is a public charter school in Sheridan, Oregon, a rural town with a population of 6,165, with 53.6 percent economically disadvantaged and 77 percent first-generation (parents without a four-year degree). SJS is a multi-aged school serving 88 students from grade 4-12. SJS is a unique blend of family atmosphere and academic success where students who appear unsuccessful elsewhere flourish; students on IEPs learn how to take small steps to advance their education, and students who excel are pushed to take responsibility for their advanced learning. SJS embraces shared leadership. All stakeholders: students, student council, parent council, board, staff, community members, and director believe that all students will be successful. Everyone is responsible for the success of SJS.

Among the 17 core values, respect and trust between teacher and student, and among students, is a high priority. The older students tutor and act as role models for the younger students. In tandem with caring for each other, one quality of John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success is focused on each month, then reinforced throughout the year as other concepts are added. Students learn to take care of their environment by cleaning the school each day, and parents volunteer to clean on the weekends. A sense of family is attained through families and their students helping each other, such as parents mentoring parents new to the school, picnics, parent nights, and Undokai (game day), for example.

Another core value, high academic standards, is delivered through Advanced Placement (AP) and other advanced classes. Every student must take Japanese language and culture classes and participate in a yearly Japanese speech contest. The Japanese teacher runs a 2-week summer immersion camp, which any student in the USA may attend. A student from North Carolina attended this past summer. The grade of D is not given, but a student is given personal tutoring outside of school hours to help him/her succeed.

Opportunities for giving to the community, another core value, are facilitated through students’ volunteerism at meal sites, the local food bank, raising money for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, the local library, and many more.

SJS opens it doors to the community with taiko drum concerts, Obon Festival, and exhibitions.

The teachers use Build Your Own Curriculum to customize instruction for relevance and high standards for the students. The Director personally creates each student’s schedule with his/her needs in mind. Teachers meet to discuss students, as well as publish their phone numbers in case questions arise outside of school hours. Teachers run tutoring sessions after school to insure student success. SJS requires conferences in the summer, fall, and winter with 100% participation.

Ninety-five percent of the seniors go on to a two-year or four-year college. Of the three seniors who graduated last year, one received $17,000; one received $48,695, and one received $7,050 in grants, scholarships, work-study opportunities, and other awards.

A quote from one of the students best exemplifies SJS’s success: “I truly believe that SJS has provided me with an excellent preparation for college through global education. I have had the privilege to attend a school that provides an unparalleled opportunity to interact with instructors and other students in an intimate environment."

Jan Smith, Sheridan Japanese School Foundation Board Member (Secretary); Kathryn Bervin-Mueller, Executive Director
www.sheridanjapaneseschool.com

Find Sheridan Japanese School on the Public Charter School Dashboard

Click here for more information.

Seattle-Times-Gives-Thumbs-Up-to-Charter-Ballot-Initiative

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

On October 13, the Seattle Times editorial page endorsed Washington state’s ballot initiative to create a charter school law. The editorial points out that the initiative “includes language taken from laws governing the best-performing charter schools. The creation of 40 public charter schools is a slow, careful step toward innovating and improving our public system.” The Washington initiative incorporates many elements of the model law for charter schools, which NAPCS developed to guide state policymakers to help them create a vibrant sector of public charter schools.

More than that, the editors made a compelling argument for charter schools everywhere. Here are some excerpts:

This is not about doing away with or abandoning traditional public schools. Evidence continues to mount that students need creativity and flexibility in the classroom and the current system does not provide or encourage enough of it.

In 41 states, charters are making a difference for a significant number of public-school students. There is no evidence that those charter schools will lead to the privatization of public education. In many cities, including Denver, New York City and Cleveland, charter schools are partnering with traditional schools to reform entire districts.

We need both charter public schools, where principals are given latitude to pick teachers, shape budget priorities and tailor curriculum to students, and good traditional schools willing to innovate.
…

Charters have been accused of cherry-picking the best public-school students, leaving traditional schools with the most challenging students. I-1240 not only gives priority to at-risk students, it codifies this intent by clearly defining at-risk students as those, “performing below grade level, at risk of dropping out of high school or currently enrolled in chronically low-performing schools.” Also included are special-education students, those with higher-than-average disciplinary sanctions or low participation rates in advanced or gifted programs or limited English proficiency, and those who are members of economically disadvantaged families.
…

Wholesale change of the sort needed to alter the academic lives of tens of thousands of students requires more than a single effort. Space must be made for innovative schools, charters and other proven efforts.

A region innovative enough to lead the world markets for airplanes, coffee, software and global health can surely be more aggressive reforming its schools. Otherwise, another generation will stumble through, with far too many students failing out of school.
…

The University of Washington’s Center for Reinventing Public Education analyzed all major charter studies and found low-performing charters tend to be in states with loose rules. Washington has an opportunity to set rules upfront that build on the most successful charter models.
…

Criticism that charters siphon funds from traditional schools is a smoke screen. The fact is they are part of the same system. Education funding already follows students wherever they go in the public system, whether to alternative, magnet or charter schools. That’s as it should be.
…

Charter schools are not a panacea for poverty or other societal problems that interfere with learning. But charters have become laboratories for innovation precisely because they work to address those problems, often by providing wraparound social services and connecting schools with community resources.

We cannot continue to put off change because it is uncomfortable and challenges the status quo.

Click here for more information.

From-Kindergarten-to-College:-What-it-Takes

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

At DREAM Charter School, my expectation as school principal, and the expectation of everyone who works in this building is that each and every one of our students is going to college. High academic achievement will get our kids ready, but that's not the only critical piece of setting our scholars up for success. We add to high academic expectations three things: health and wellness, family engagement, and full inclusion. It takes all of these elements working together to truly develop young learners and get them ready for life in the 21st century. At DREAM, we make no argument that academics reign supreme. But we also want to create a healthy environment of support so that our scholars can successfully brave the rigors of academic excellence.

At DREAM, health and wellness includes character development. We tell students to never give up; mistakes are how we learn; when something is hard, that just means we're learning. We let our scholars know from the very beginning – as early as kindergarten – that this work is really hard, but we are going to push them, and they can take the challenge. We let them know that if the work is easy, they’re probably not learning; and if it’s hard, they can’t opt out.

Physical well-being includes active recess even in the cold of winter, a full curriculum of physical education, and healthy meals that are modeled by every adult working here. Emotional and mental well-being is supported by a robust social work department that brings social workers into the classroom, lunchroom and school yard – our social workers don’t just show up when a student is in trouble. And they’re not only committed to the student, they’re committed to their families.

Which brings us to our families. Our Director of Family Engagement makes sure our students’ families feel welcome at DREAM. We recognize that parents are our students’ first teachers, and by doing so, we need to hear their voice when it comes to educating their child. Because what happens at home is just as important as what happens at school, we provide monthly family events that support our parents, such as legal clinics, reading and math workshops and nutrition classes. Beyond these formal gatherings, our families know they’re welcome at DREAM any day of the week.

Finally, DREAM values diversity – we are a full inclusion school where special education and ELL students learn side by side with general education students. We believe that all students have something to learn from students who are different from them. By having diverse students learning together, we are cultivating a generation of compassionate, rounded adults. This is supported by two teachers in each classroom – one general education teacher and one ELL or special education teacher – who partner to individualize each scholar's education in a shared learning environment.

This all sounds great, right? Well, we’re proud to say that it works. This year the New York City Department of Education gave us an A on our Progress Report. And our recent state test scores ranks DREAM out of 90 NYC Charter Schools second highest in improvement in ELA and sixth highest in improvement in Math. At DREAM, academic excellence does not come at the cost of recess, physical education, family programs and diversity – it comes through them.

As far as I’m concerned, college is on the horizon for all students at DREAM Charter School. Making that a reality is my job.

Eve Colavito, Principal, DREAM Charter School
www.dreamschoolnyc.org

Find DREAM Charter School on the Public Charter School Dashboard

Click here for more information.

The-Intergenerational-School:-Connecting-Generations,-Building-Relationships

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The mission of The Intergenerational School (TIS) is to connect, create and guide a multi-generational community of lifelong learners and spirited citizens. To teach and live out the concepts of lifelong learning and spirited citizenship, we surround our young students with opportunities to engage with the broader community and to learn with and from individuals of all ages who exemplify this ideal. TIS is located in Cleveland, Ohio, one of the poorest cities in the nation. Over the 12 years that TIS has been operating, we have developed the intergenerational learning model from a seed of an idea into a vibrant and successful school with not only 224 “young” learners (grades K-8) but approximately 300 adults and older adults who participate in a wide range of intergenerational programs each year.

A “walk through” at TIS demonstrates the ways in which we operationalize this mission. Walking into one primary classroom, it is reading workshop. Students are scattered throughout the room; some are engrossed in reading his or her own self-selected book, others are reading with a partner, a few are working with the teacher. Looking more closely, you will see that the class includes students of a variety of ages and some of the older students are reading with and helping some of the younger students. This is the first step toward instilling an inclination of “community service” in the children: if you know how to do something and someone younger does not, you have the opportunity to teach what you know. Hence at TIS a fundamental belief is that everyone is at once a teacher and a learner at all times.

Meanwhile in the hallway, ensconced in comfortable sofas and chairs are some of our oldest participants, senior citizens who have been trained to mentor our young readers. Together one elder and one child explore the wonderful world of books, which prompts discussion and the sharing of life stories between the two. Over the course of weeks, months, and even years, the elders notice the growth of their mentees as readers, and as poised and thoughtful partners in increasingly rich conversations. Further on, area college students are tutoring math students and developing relationships that will inspire TIS students to see college as a part of their own future.

Yet another class is preparing to leave to visit their nursing home partners. That day they will be deepening their own understanding of the civil rights movement by collecting the stories of those residents who were a part of it. These stories will be rewritten into picture book format to be shared with their primary cluster reading partners later on.

These are just a few examples of intergenerational learning activities that take place on a daily basis. Intergenerational experiences not only deepen and personalize learning, but have spillover effects on overall school culture and outcomes. From the academic perspective, TIS students consistently post some of the highest test scores in the state of Ohio. The school has had 6 years of Excellent ratings, and 2 years of achieving Excellent with Distinction status out of 9 years of being rated. But test scores do not tell the full story. TIS students develop a profound respect for their elders and benefit from the patience, caring, and consistency that characterize these relationships. The come to value people of all ages and from all walks of life. The presence of older adults contributes to a calm and respectful school climate. Meanwhile the older adults, including some with memory loss, know that they are making a profound contribution to the next generation and leaving a true living legacy.

We have coined the term “intergenerativity” to denote the powerful synergy that emerges when the generations learn together. To us, this represents community service at its most profound and personal level.

Cathy Whitehouse, Founder, Principal and Chief-Educator, The Intergenerational School www.tisonline.org

Find The Intergenerational School on the Public Charter School Dashboard

Click here for more information.

Media-Roundup

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

News to Know

"Charter Schools: Yes. Initiative 1240 has plenty of protections for traditional educational system," The Columbian, Oct. 8
“Gov. Corbett must step up for charter school reform,” Patriot News, Oct. 9
"State seeks to double enrollment in charter schools,” Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 10
"Charter networks being urged to take over troubled schools in city,” Chicago Tribune, Oct. 11
"Don't deny school choice,” Augusta Chronicle, Oct. 12

Audience Favorites

Facebook—Check out our infographic on public charter school instructional strategies.

Twitter— @CenterNonProf: Welcome David! MT @charteralliance:pleased to announce David Hoff will be our new VP for Communications & Marketing

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

Click here for more information.

Paulo-Freire-Freedom-School:--Where-Real-Learning-Matters

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

At Paulo Freire Freedom School (“PFFS”), a middle school charter in Tucson, Arizona, we believe that real knowledge comes from experiences that are authentic and engaging. Young people learn when learning is connected to the real world they live in and to the issues they care about.

Across the country, students and parents, principals and teachers alike, express growing concern that public schools are narrowing their curricula to only those bodies of content and skills that can be measured effectively through standardized testing. They worry that this narrowing of focus at the expense of powerful teaching and learning puts students at risk of not understanding deeply the 'big ideas' in science, math, and social studies, or critical 21st century skills, such as collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking that are needed in today’s workplace.

At PFFS we have adopted Project-Based Learning (PBL) as our pedagogical and curricular focus. PBL is “an instructional approach built upon authentic learning activities that engage student interest and motivation. These activities are designed to answer a question or solve a problem and generally reflect the types of learning and work people do in the everyday world outside the classroom.” (http://pbl-online.org/) The term PBL can be used to describe a variety of experiences, including problem solving, group work, service learning and expeditionary learning. At PFFS we use PBL in two different ways: as an integral part of the regular classroom curriculum and as experiential learning experiences outside the classroom walls.

In the classroom, our students are regularly asked to work in teams to solve a problem or investigate an issue. These projects involve real world situations that quickly engage students because the relevance of their work is immediately apparent. For example, in our 8th grade Humanities curriculum, a final project asked students to work with a partner to create their own Political Party addressing critical topics studied throughout the year such as the role of government, civil rights, and economic policy. After detailing their Party Platform, students then had to try to “sell” their party to other students by using political ads and slogans. An election was held that demonstrated how effective their marketing had been.

Many of the projects at PFFS are interdisciplinary, such as our “Barbie Bungee” exhibition. Students are first asked to recreate life-size Barbies using the same scale as the Barbie doll. Then they researched and reported out on a social justice issue connected to the doll (i.e. the manufacturing practices at maquiladores along the Mexican border with the United States, or the impact of unattainable images of beauty on adolescent self-worth). The project ended with students 'bungee jumping' Barbies from a balcony to estimate, measure, and analyze velocity.

Sometimes our projects take on a life of their own as happened last year when the entire school was transformed into eight different biomes. In small groups, our entire student body researched biomes on the planet to get a real sense of each biomes' ecosystem. Students then recreated an ecosystem (minus humans) to scale in different parts of the school building with charts and posters explaining their pristine dioramas. On the third day we introduced humans. Students had to return to their research, assess the impact humans have had historically on different biomes, and then create governments and economic systems to meet the respective needs of their biome civilizations.

While we fully embrace the concept of PBL, we know and have seen that too often what is called project-based learning is little more than students doing prolonged group work. Sometimes these projects include extended periods of “art time” (e.g. hours spent decorating dioramas). While perhaps enjoyable, these activities might not push students into higher levels of learning. Thus, any PBL at PFFS must be designed with an eye to what are the desired student learning outcomes and how effectively and efficiently the project supports those outcomes.

The other area where PBL is used is outside the classroom through experiential learning. These experiences are not necessarily about working on solving or analyzing real life issues in an extended project that culminates in a student created demonstration. Experiential learning at PFFS consists of students being exposed to a panoply of outside environments aimed at building their background knowledge and establishing relevancy and motivation.

We create a special week of Intersession programming two times during the year, when teachers work exclusively with approximately a dozen students to explore an area of passion in depth. Teachers propose topics based on their passions/expertise and students then rank their choices. In the past we have offered a diverse mix of experiences including Space Exploration, Backpacking in the Rincons, The Story Behind Stuff, Upcyling, Circus School, Let Freedom Sing (the use of freedom songs as part of civil rights movements), Love Not Borders (border study), Move It (dance and political expression), Building with a Conscious, and Political Musical Theater.

Expeditions, which take place every Friday for a third of the school, are one day field experiences. These range from going to the University Arizona medical school to conduct sunscreen experiments, to volunteering at a homeless shelter, to attending student matinee performances put on by the Arizona Theater Company.

The rationale for exposing students to learning outside the classroom walls lies in research showing that building background knowledge significantly helps students in their academic studies and helps students make connections between what they are learning in classroom with the larger world to motivate students to learn.

Our students perform well on their standardized tests, but we believe this provides only a limited snapshot of what they know and can do. We look forward to the new performance based-assessments that will be coming soon with the Common Core which promise to measure a larger part of student achievement. Arguably, our most important performance metric is that our students are excited about coming to school and they love learning. In a survey given to our 6th and 7th graders at the end of last year, 100% said they enjoyed coming to school. We believe that this evidence is at least as significant as making AYP on our annual report card.

JoAnn Groh, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Paulo Freire Freedom School
www.paulofreireschool.org

Find Paulo Freire Freedom School on the Public Charter Schools Dashboard.

Click here for more information.

Learn.-Serve.-Change-the-World:-One-Student-at-a-Time

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

At New Foundations Charter School (NFCS) we believe that all students can be lifelong learners and stewards of their communities. It is this belief that pushes our students, families and staff to strive for the highest levels of success in academics and beyond. The “beyond” in our school community is what sets us apart from other public schools, giving every student a chance become part of a caring community and to serve in a variety of ways.

At NFCS, kindergarten students have taken on the issue of pollution in our oceans by collecting plastic caps to be made into cosmetic bottles. Fifth grade students partner with the Fairmount Park Commission to maintain and rehab Pennypack Park next to their school. Tenth grade students spend two days shadowing a career of interest and then take action on a career related issue of their choice. These are just a few examples of how NFCS uses the teaching and learning strategy of service-learning to enhance our curriculum and give students an opportunity to develop important life skills while impacting their community.

All members of our school community have seen the impact of service-learning on our students’ academic, social, and emotional growth. We have watched shy students gain a voice, low performing students improve academic skills, classes work through the decision making process, and families find new ways to spend time together. The positive outcomes of service-learning go well beyond our academics, although it’s definitely worth mentioning that NFCS’ PSSA (Pennsylvania’s standardized tests) scores soar beyond the School District of Philadelphia and the school has made AYP for the past 4 years.

With the addition of our new high school in 2010, NFCS was able to develop a program that integrated service-learning into our focus of developing students that are college and career ready. We take a unique approach to college and career readiness by engaging students in a variety of activities that expose them to The 16 Career Clusters, allow them to explore careers of interest, create a sense of personal responsibility to their community, and prepare them for a successful life post-graduation. Through a comprehensive career development curriculum, students not only learn about their interest and skills, but they also have a chance to work with professionals from a variety of fields to give back to their community through service-learning.

Service-learning is not a one man (or woman) job. Teachers and specialists work together to plan units that meet academic standards and promote social and emotional growth. Support staff and AmeriCorps VISTA members provide resources on social issues and outreach to build partnerships. Our administration and Board of Trustees are supportive and understand the importance of service-learning in the development of a whole child. Most of our families understand the purpose and see the benefits of this approach on their child(ren), providing additional hands as needed.

At NFCS, service-learning is not an extracurricular activity, an after school club, or something extra that teachers take on. It is part of what we do. It is the way we teach. It is our method of instruction. It is the way that we ensure that our students learn to be responsible adults in their communities.

Shira Woolf Cohen, Vice Principal, New Foundations Charter School
www.nfcsonline.org

Find New Foundations Charter School on the Public Charter Schools Dashboard.

Click here for more information.

The-Instructional-Strategies-Charter-Schools-Use-[Infographic]

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This past spring, NAPCS conducted a survey of public charter schools across the country. (The national survey provided data for our estimate of 610,000 students on waiting lists to attend charter schools (see here, here, and here).) There were over 5,600 charter schools operating nationwide when we administered the survey in 2011-2012, and we know that charter schools are not a uniform category of schools. One of NAPCS’ goals through the school survey was to collect information that would help us better understand the wide range of instructional strategies charter schools use. We asked charter schools to select their instructional focus from a list of 44 categories (schools could select more than one area of focus). We started with a list from the 2006 Fordham Institute study, Playing to Type: Mapping the Charter School Landscape and revised the list (adding some categories, deleting others) based on work NAPCS has done work collecting information about charter schools nationwide.

Crunching through the survey data, we found that over 40 percent of charter schools responded that their instructional focus is “college-prep.” The term “college-prep” may generate images of a particular type of school: students in uniforms, college and university banners hanging in hallways, a “no excuses” mantra. But when we looked a little deeper at the survey data, we found wide variation in how charter schools go about implementing the focus of preparing students for college. Charter schools use service-learning, project-based instruction, community service, arts, technology, and STEM, among a variety of other instructional methods, to prepare students for college. The survey data reflects the reality that charter schools are not a homogenous set of schools. The infographic below presents findings from the survey (we have a PDF version of the infographic, too).

This week and next NAPCS will use the Charter Blog to feature public charter schools that prepare students for college using a range of instructional strategies. We have asked school leaders to tell us in their own words how they use service-learning, project-based instruction, child-centered methods, etc. to create a “college-prep” focus. By combining data on instructional strategies from a national survey with on the ground stories of the work of charter schools, we hope to show the wide scope of possibilities in how charter schools can provide great learning environments for students.

Click here for more information.

David-Hoff-Is-Our-New-VP-for-Communications-and-Marketing

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

We’re pleased to announce that David Hoff will be our new Vice President for Communications and Marketing. As the leader of NAPCS’s communications function, Hoff will be the spokesperson for NAPCS and the public charter school movement. He begins his new position on October 9, 2012.

Before joining us, David was the deputy assistant secretary for communication development at the U.S. Department of Education, where he worked closely with senior Education Department officials to develop messages supporting the Obama administration’s goal of providing a cradle-to-college education for all children. He oversaw speechwriting, publications, the Web site, and new media for the department. Prior to joining the Department in May 2009, David was a journalist for more than 20 years including more than 12 years at Education Week.

You can learn more about David’s background here. Fun fact about David: he first wrote about charter schools in 1993 while at Education Daily.

Click here for more information.

Media-Round-Up

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“D.C. considers neighborhood admissions preference for charter schools,” Renita Thukral (VP Legal Affairs) cited as committee member, Washington Post, Oct. 4
“N.H. Charter Freeze Triggers Fierce Backlash,” Todd Ziebarth (Sr. VP State Advocacy) quoted in Education Week, Oct. 3

News to Know

“Plenty of Common Ground in Obama and Romney’s Ed Reform Pitches,” Color Lines, Oct. 5
“Veto pits charter school autonomy against reduced-price meals,” California Watch, Oct. 4
“Charter backers rally as teachers vote on contract,” Chicago Tribune, Oct. 3
“First charter schools in Maine start first day of school,” Bangor Daily News, Oct. 2
“LAUSD, 3 charter groups win grants to develop evaluation systems,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 1

Audience Favorites

Facebook— (Oct. 4) This afternoon, our CEO Nina Rees moderated a panel on Capitol Hill with representatives from Achievement First, Breakthrough Schools, IDEA Public Schools, KIPP Delta Public Schools, Noble Network of Charter Schools, and Success Academy Charter Schools. The discussion examined practices in high performing charter networks to see if there's a "secret sauce" that can be used to close the achievement gap. What do you think is the most important thing a school can do to achieve transformational results for its students?

Twitter— @KIPPDelta talks character ed & serving a rural community: "our students aren't just test scores...they need the right vehicle to succeed."

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

Click here for more information.

DOE-Celebrates-District-and-Charter-Collaboration

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Congratulations to the first Charter School Exemplary Collaboration grant winners! Seven grantees are being awarded a total of $1.2 million to continue partnering with non-chartered public schools and non-chartered LEAs to share and broadly disseminate best educational and operation practices that “solve persistent challenges in public education.”

The specific challenges grantees are collaborating to solve range from effective data-driven instruction to bullying, encouraging student attendance to developing aligned assessments, and comprehensive support for families to low graduation rates. The Department of Education and this year’s award winners realize that we have a lot to learn from each other, and when schools work together, students will ultimately reap the benefits. To read more about the grantees and their projects, check out the U.S. ED announcement.

Want to learn more about effective partnership between charter and traditional public schools? Check out the National Best Cooperative Practices between Charter and Traditional Public Schools Conference (NBCP). Registration closes October 22nd. And be sure to check out the best collaboration practices, as well as submit your own!

Click here for more information.

South-Carolina-Leadership-Summit-Focuses-on-Academic-and-Operational-Excellence-in-Public-Charter-Schools

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

I had the pleasure of speaking at the Public Charter School Alliance of South Carolina Leadership Summit this week. What a wonderful compliment to their annual state charter school conference! The two-day summit was targeted at new school leaders, business managers, and governing board members. It included intensives in business finance and operations, fundraising and marketing, speeches by legislators and the state superintendent on the status of the charter sector in South Carolina, and demystifying funding formulas. The summit ended with a leaders roundtable to discuss the use of research and data in charter schools.

The summit gave me a deeper awareness that:

the power of an emerging charter support organization to serve as a convener is essential to growing a high quality charter sector in a state;
the need for consistent and focused networking opportunities for new and veteran charter leaders and board members is invaluable;
awareness and engagement of charter school stockholders in federal policy development and implementation is critical;
business bootcamps that provide useful resources and tools in finance, operations and communications can never be offered enough.

Kudos to Mary Carmichael and Carol Aust for putting on one heck of a summit. The attendees that I spoke with during the reception appreciated the opportunity to go more in-depth and have access to
their peers outside of the state conference. For more information, click here.

Photo: Taishya Adams and Carol Aust of the Public Charter School Alliance of South Carolina at their Leadership Summit

Click here for more information.

Professional-Development-Center-Benefits-Charter-School-and-Greater-Community

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In 2010, Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, Colorado, launched its Center for Professional Development (CPD), an office dedicated to creating collaborative educational partnerships designed to maximize student achievement. As a nationally recognized charter school (the high school is consistently ranked among the top 100 high schools by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report), Peak to Peak regularly receives requests for advice, support, or resources from other schools and educational institutions. Because the school recognizes its responsibility as an educational leader, the CPD was designed to respond to those requests.

The CPD’s purpose is basically two-fold. First, it provides professional development to Peak to Peak faculty and operational staff by creating opportunities to serve as consultants, mentors, workshop leaders, and instructional coaches. Second, it facilitates partnerships to provide collaborative, research-based professional development services to other schools and institutions (schools, districts, universities, etc.). Partnerships are custom-tailored to the needs of each partner institution, and are designed to be relevant and transformative for educators in all stages of their careers.

CPD partnerships take on a variety of forms, from providing curriculum consultants to offering workshops in best practices to providing state-approved induction services. For example, the CPD’s free Wednesday Workshop series attracts a diverse audience made up of Peak to Peak teachers, district teachers, pre-service teaching candidates, graduate students from university education programs, university professors, and faculty and staff from neighboring schools (charter and traditional public). CPD consultants collaborate with partners across the state of Colorado, whether partnering with the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) to provide pre-AP training to BVSD middle school teachers, leading workshops on student engagement at an alternative high school in the Denver Public School District, exploring pedagogical best practices with the Health Professions faculty at Metro State University, or providing induction programs for initially-licensed teachers in rural charter schools.

When the CPD brings education professionals together to improve organizations through authentic needs assessments and systematic implementation of best practices, schools get better and students get smarter. What’s more, it’s not just the partner school that sees improvement. As a result of the leadership and consulting opportunities provided by CPD external partnerships, Peak to Peak teachers and administrators become inspired by new insights and valuable experiences, which they then use as a lens through which to reflect upon and improve Peak to Peak’s own internal programs and practices.

For more information about the Center for Professional Development at Peak to Peak Charter School, please visit www.cpdcolorado.org.

The Center for Professional Development will be a featured collaborative practice at the upcoming national Best Cooperative Practices for Charter & Traditional Public Schools Conference. Click to learn more and register for the conference.

Author Megan Freeman is the Director of Professional Development at Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, Colorado.

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Congratulations-to-the-2012-Teacher-Incentive-Fund-Grantees

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Last week the Department of Education announced the 35 grantees that will be awarded a total of $290 million through the Teacher Incentive Fund. This competitive grant program awards funding to applicants that present compelling plans to improve pay and evaluation structures in ways that incentivize and reward great teachers. This year’s grantees together serve nearly 1,000 schools across 150 districts.

The grant program encourages “local leaders to engage teachers in influencing the future of the teaching profession.” It rewards innovative ways to support excellent instruction. Innovation is a core value of the charter school movement, and it is no surprise that many of the winning grantee plans involve teacher incentive and evaluation programs that originated in charter schools. Many proposals, developed with teacher input, set up bonus systems that compensate teachers based on effectiveness and outline district-wide evaluation systems that value student growth and professional development, among a range of other indicators.

Winning proposals from public charter schools include Aspire Public Schools in California, which plans on using its $2 million to expand its already successful performance-based compensation system. The system rewards teachers who are not only highly effective in the classroom, but volunteer for additional leadership roles throughout the school. And Breakthrough Charter Schools in Ohio will use its $3.3 million to roll out a Strategic Human Capital Improvement Plan which, among other things, improves the school’s professional development and promotion system. Other award recipients that include consortia of public charter schools are Green Dot Public Schools (CA), The National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (CA), and the Center for Educational Innovation – Public Education Association (NY).

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan shared the sentiment that at the center of every successful school is support for great teaching at last Thursday’s award ceremony. Congratulations to this year’s recipients, who are being rewarded for thinking outside of the box when it comes to driving and supporting great teachers.
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Education-Entrepreneurs-Fellowship-Gives-School-Leaders-Resources-to-Innovate

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Charter school leaders have always functioned more like entrepreneurs than traditional principals. As the primary drivers of their schools’ missions, they manage the academic program, finance and operational systems, strategic planning and development, external relations and any other domains that impact their “bottom line”: the academic success of every one of their students. Over the past two decades, this entrepreneurial spirit has created numerous high-performing schools from the ground up – schools that have defied expectations and impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.

Today, the demands on school leadership are changing as the charter school movement seeks to respond to new challenges: the turnaround of failing district schools, the demand to scale up effective school models and the need to introduce new ones. When faced with such challenges, there is often discussion within the movement about the need to recruit new talent; but we also must create avenues for existing leaders to continue to develop the skills needed to tackle these new frontiers in education reform. Our charter school leaders have been doing this work for years across the country in schools they have built from scratch. It’s time for some of these school leaders to return to their entrepreneurial roots to develop innovative solutions to these new challenges.

Last week, we created an avenue at the Tennessee Charter School Incubator through our new Education Entrepreneurs Fellowship. This national program will give up to eight fellows the chance to expand on the best possible models across the country, design their own schools and/or management organizations, and launch them with financial and operational support, not as fresh-start charters, but as replacements for some of the lowest-performing public schools in Tennessee and, by extension, the country.

The opportunity and resources available to leaders who endeavor to do this work in Tennessee have never been greater. But this work requires time, targeted training, and personal and professional resources that go beyond those typically offered in some of our movement’s best training programs. Leaders need to master executive, political and turnaround competencies at levels few have had the opportunity to develop until now. The Education Entrepreneurs Fellowship is committed to providing these necessary tools and resources to exceptional leaders ready to transform education for our neediest students in Memphis and Nashville. It provides recipients more than three years of continuous and personalized support, from training to incubation to early launch services, as well as a competitive salary and benefits package.

We believe the talent to overcome our most pressing challenges already exists in our movement. It just needs programs like the Education Entrepreneurs Fellowship to provide the time, resources and space needed to develop.

Greg Thompson is the chief executive officer for the Tennessee Charter School Incubator. See information about the Education Entrepreneurs Fellowship at http://www.charterexcellence.org.

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Leveraging-Charter-School-Experiences-in-Traditional-Public-Schools

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Yesterday, the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution released a report titled "Learning from the Successes and Failures of Charter Schools" authored by Harvard economics professor Roland Fryer. The study built on Dr. Fryer’s earlier work in 35 New York City charter schools to identify common practices among high-performing schools. Five practices were identified from the NYC charters and then applied to low performing traditional schools in the Houston and Denver in hopes of raising student achievement. The Hamilton Project study reports “promising” results from the early data.

The five practices implemented in Houston and Denver are:

extended time at school,
strong administrators and teachers,
data-driven instruction,
small-group tutoring, and
creating a “culture of high expectations.”

According to Dr. Fryer, these elements explain roughly 50 percent of the variance between high and low performing schools. He emphasized that “you can’t cut your way to excellence,” since turnaround isn’t just about replacing the adults in the system, but giving them ample support and training.

Other panelists at the Hamilton Project event included Terry Grier, Superintendent of Houston Independent School District. He noted that the five practices identified by Dr. Fryer aren’t new or even surprising: “We know what works…why do we need so much political will to do it?” Seth Andrew, Superintendent and Founder of Democracy Prep Public Schools—a high performing charter network in New York City—noted that the charter model gave him the flexibility to allocate resources that impacted school culture and success, such as higher salary for teachers to attract and retain top talent. There were many other interesting data points and experiences shared during the session, which can be viewed on C-SPAN.

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Media-Round-Up

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

"Re-segregation Trend In Georgia,” Todd Ziebarth (VP State Advocacy) quoted in the Georgia Public Broadcasting, 26 Sept. 2012
“Union influence declining at Mass. charter schools,” Todd Ziebarth (VP State Advocacy) quoted in the Boston Globe, 24 Sept. 2012

News to Know

“Parsing Fact from Fiction in 'Won't Back Down,” NPR, Sept. 28
Denver’s Best Public Charter Schools Provide a Model, Denver Post, Sept. 27
”Del. Officials Unveil Charter Standards,” Associated Press, Sept. 26
“D.C. officials change policy on charter schools’ occupation of surplus buildings,” Washington Post, Sept. 25
“Teachers United backs charter school initiative,” Seattle Times, Sept. 24

Audience Favorites

Facebook— A new study adds to the mounting evidence for the scalability of the KIPP public charter school model. Our Research Director walks you through the research findings--especially the conclusion that KIPP's impact on student performance is not due to harder to educate students leaving for other schools--on the Charter Blog.

Twitter— @charteralliance In HuffPost Education, teacher Carl Finer describes his move from a traditional public school to a public charter

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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New-Study-on-KIPP-Indicates-that-Student-Attrition-Does-Not-Eliminate-Large-Achievement-Effect

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Public charter schools, and KIPP in particular, have experienced persistent critiques that when charter schools produce positive performance outcomes, the results are driven by assumed charter school policies that counsel out low-performing students and restrict replacement enrollment (see Kahlenberg and Miron). This student attrition issue for charter schools is complicated. On the one hand, there are many charter school operators that strive to create schools that meet the needs of all students. From KIPP’s annual report: “At KIPP, we are committed to keeping our students with us because we believe that every student can thrive in our schools.” On the other hand, student mobility and the selection of schools based on personal preferences are inherent to school choice policies. Matt Di Carlo at the Shanker Blog (not the typical defender of charter schools) points this out: “Within-district attrition – students changing schools, often based on ‘fit’ or performance - is a defining feature of school choice, not an aberration.” And he questions why supporters of school choice are unable to clearly articulate and stand behind the fact that student mobility and non-random selection of schools will be a part of choice-based school systems.

Because KIPP is aiming to create an alternative educational model to the traditional public schools, a model that will serve any and all students—not just a small niche of students—it has been important for KIPP to show that its impact on student performance is not due to harder to educate students leaving for other schools.

Enter a new study by Mathematica that takes a very thorough look at attrition for 19 KIPP middle schools in nine states plus the District of Columbia and comparison middle schools in geographically relevant school districts (read more about the study here). There have been other studies that have taken a look at attrition in KIPP schools (San Francisco Bay Area KIPP schools, KIPP Lynn). However, the Mathematica study examines attrition exclusively and dives deep. Here are some of the findings:

Cumulative and grade level attrition rates were similar for KIPP middle schools and comparison traditional public middle schools.
The characteristics of students (i.e., race, FRL, baseline test scores) were the same for students who left KIPP as for students who left comparison traditional public middle schools.
In terms of late entry enrollment, traditional public schools admitted a higher average number of students than KIPP middle schools. However, when looked at in terms of proportionality to total enrollment by grade level, there were no differences between KIPP middle schools and traditional public schools in terms of late entry enrollment.
The demographics of late arrivers to KIPP did differ from students who entered traditional public schools after the middle school entry grade level. KIPP late arrivers were more likely to have higher baseline scores, less likely to qualify for FRL, and less likely to be male.

The study finds that there may be some selective replacement of students in KIPP middle schools. The question, then, is whether the demographic changes due to attrition and late entry explain the impact KIPP charter schools have on student performance. Based on the literature on the size of peer effects (i.e., did the change in peer demographics create a learning environment more conducive to student performance gains), the authors conclude that attrition and late entry of students explain no more than a quarter of the KIPP impact on test scores.

Let’s put that in perspective. The Betts and Tang meta-analysis of charter school effects found that KIPP schools had estimated effect sizes for reading and math at 0.096 and 0.223, respectively. This means that a student attending a KIPP charter school, compared with a traditional public school, would move from the 50th percentile to the 54th and 59th percentiles in a single year. If attrition accounts for roughly 25 percent of the effect, then the effect sizes for KIPP would drop to 0.072 for reading and 0.167 for math. The meta-analysis found that middle school charters (excluding KIPP schools) had effects sizes of 0.011 for reading and 0.055 for math. So, even when attrition is accounted for, KIPP middle schools outperform their traditional public school counterparts and have effect sizes three to seven times larger than other charter school middle schools.

Evidence is mounting for the scalability of the KIPP charter school model.

Image: A KIPP charter school in the Bronx (By Leila Haddouche, via Flickr Creative Commons)

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NYC-Schools-Open-Their-Doors-to-Sharing

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

For all the classes, workshops, and one-on-one conversations that influenced my professional development as a teacher, there was nothing quite like the opportunity to observe other educators in action. Whether I went next door to my mentor teacher’s room or across town to a different school, I inevitably returned to my own classroom with pages of furiously scribbled notes. Some things I implemented immediately, some things planted the seeds for longer-term changes, while still other things were frankly lessons in what I did not want my own class to look like.

Given the growing number of virtual platforms, it’s becoming easier and easier to share ideas digitally, but there remains something to be said about the physical act of observation. While in-school sharing is still the norm, there are far fewer opportunities for educators to actually go out into the field and observe in a different setting.

This past spring, NYC Collaborates, an initiative of New York City’s District-Charter Collaboration Compact that aims to facilitate opportunities for schools to share information and best practices, launched its first school study tour series. Through these tours, NYC educators were able to visit a variety of district and charter schools, with each visit focused on a particular theme. More than just identifying possible schools to visit–in and of itself not an easy task for an individual–we wanted to ensure that we created a deeper learning experience. Further, we wanted to ensure that it was actually a shared learning experience, where educators had the opportunity not just to learn from the school they were visiting, but also from one another.

Check out this video to see what the tours were really all about.

We’re grateful to the four schools that warmly welcomed what was essentially a group of strangers into their building. We’re thrilled that attendees prioritized the opportunity to visit another great public school, and that they candidly contributed to rich and authentic conversations.

And we’re excited to keep the momentum going. If you want to learn more or brainstorm with us, stop by or drop us a note.

NYC Collaborates is a co-sponsor of the upcoming national Best Cooperative Practices for Charter & Traditional Public Schools Conference. Click to learn more and register for the conference.

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Chicago-Public-Charter-School-Graduate-Featured-on-NPR's-StoryCorps

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

As an avowed addict of NPR, I love the StoryCorps series every Friday morning. Often the stories make me laugh, sometimes I fight back tears, but mostly I sit back and appreciate the way that StoryCorps provides everyday people the chance to tell their own poignant stories, stories that resonate so broadly. The story this morning was a conversation between an alumnus of North Lawndale College Prep, a charter school in Chicago, and the dean of the school when she attended. Tierra Jackson talks about her struggles in high school as a homeless teenager. When she opened up to the teachers and staff at North Lawndale, they created a support network to help her succeed. She is now a junior at Roosevelt University. In Tierra’s own words, “There's so many people who could, you know, be the next Bill Gates and change the world. But because they're poor or they're living in poverty, they're instantly written off because no one thinks they'll make it. I just want to make it." Tierra’s high school, like so many other charter schools setting high expectations for students, believed in her and didn’t let her fall through the cracks. At the start of the new school year, this story truly resonates as 6,000 charter schools work to make sure that every student reaches their potential.

Image: Tierra Jackson talks to John Horan, the president of her high school. Image via StoryCorps webpage.

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News-Round-Up

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

NAPCS in the News

“National Charter Leaders: With Strong Law, Indiana Must Show Results,” Nina Rees (President and CEO) is featured speaker at Indiana Public Charter Schools Association conference, WIBC.com, 20 Sept. 2012
“Segregation Prominent in Schools, Study Finds,” Todd Ziebarth (VP State Advocacy) quoted in New York Times, 19 Sept. 2012
“Lessons Learned” op-ed by Nina Rees on Chicago Teachers Union strike, National Journal Education Expert Blog, 19 Sept. 2012
“Charter Group Making (Bipartisan) Hires,” article features NAPCS recent hires of Gina Mahony as senior VP for federal affairs and David Hoff as VP for communications and marketing, Education Week Charters & Choice Blog, 19 Sept. 2012

News to Know

“Chicago teachers to continue strike into a 2nd week in nation’s 3rd largest district,” Washington Post, Sept. 17
"Nashville Schools to Lose $3 Million over Rejection of Charter School,” Tennessean, Sept. 18
"D.C. Charter School Struggles with Enrollment Swings Thanks to Waitlist Shuffle,” Washington Post, Sept. 19
"In Georgia, Support for Charter School Amendment Holds Steady at 58 Percent,” Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Political Insider blog, Sept. 20
“New Hampshire Board of Education Puts Moratorium on New Charter Schools,” Union Leader, Sept. 21

Audience Favorites

Facebook—Check out this infographic on public charter school attendance that uses data from the NAPCS Dashboard. Graphic by Face The Facts USA via The Huffington Post

Twitter— @GovernorMarkell: 1 of the most important investments we can make is in our public #education system. @DECharterNetwrk @charteralliance

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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What-is-the-Value-of-Educational-Opportunity003F

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In essence, the question ‘what is the value of educational opportunity?’ is a primary question underlying school choice reform efforts. It is also the question which studies that compare the academic performance of public charter schools and traditional public schools attempt to quantify. We wrote on this blog about three solid studies that showed that the quality of school options matters quite a bit. One of the authors of those quality studies, Justine S. Hastings, has released a new working paper through the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) that examines the impact that winning admission to one’s school of choice via lottery has on non-cognitive measures (such as behavior) while the students still attend their current schools. The paper is smartly designed and indicates that once students find out that they have won the lottery to attend a charter school, behavior problems decline (measured by truancy rates). Male students applying to charter high schools had the largest decline in truancy by 21 percent (you can read more about the study here, here, and here).

Studies that compare the academic performance of students who won lotteries to attend charter schools with students who lost lotteries (see Boston, NYC, Chicago, and elsewhere) provide evidence that students who win the lottery and attend charter schools experience higher levels of achievement. The new NBER report suggests that winning the lottery impacts behavior before students even enroll in the new charter school. These findings support the idea that educational opportunity can truly be about more than what happens within a school. Believing in the opportunities that a high quality education can unleash may impact behavior and performance outcomes, as well as the hard to measure qualities such as aspiration and motivation.

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Lessons-Learned

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike hit an unexpected milestone when it continued into its second week. Public charter schools have also hit a milestone this year, marking their 20th anniversary nationally, and 15th in Illinois. As we look at these milestones, it is hard not to draw some contrasts between the two public school models operating in the Windy City. While the strike leaves 350,000 students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system out of school—a collective loss of over five million learning hours in the first week alone—the 52,000 students served by public charter schools remained in the classroom.

Chicago is the fifth largest district in the nation by number of public charter school students served. While charter schools make up nine percent of the Chicago public school market, they are only 2.9 percent of public schools statewide. The relatively high concentration of public charter schools in Chicago brings to head the operational differences between charter and traditional public schools.

One key difference is choice: parents have the ability to choose a charter school with a culture and curricular focus and that fits their child’s needs. Teachers too can opt to work at a school thatnor appeals to their educational philosophy. And the ability to make this choice may be a huge component of job satisfaction. While teachers in their first three years on the job earn comparable salaries in both CPS and charter schools, with increased experience the gap widens—with CPS employees earning up to $12,000 more per year.

Another difference is school design. One of the foundational principles underlying public charter schools is that they use their increased autonomy to pioneer innovations, which when proven effective, can then be shared back to the traditional public school system. Charter schools have road tested several of the innovations at the heart of the CTU negotiations: teacher evaluation methods, extended learning time, and principal control over personnel decisions.

Adoption of effective practices by the larger public school system is essential to leveraging impact. That said, collective bargaining agreements in unionized schools hinder customization of reform strategies. Specifically, charter schools are able to tailor implementation at the school- and sometimes even classroom-level. But the parameters of the CTU contract would make this school-level individualization near impossible. However, the negotiations present a great opportunity to bring tested reforms to scale. As Andrew Broy, President of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS) stated, “At INCS, we want to make sure that all public schools focus on what works, including a relentless focus on teacher quality and ensuring that every school is led by a strong principal. But until adults subordinate their interests to those of our students, the unfortunate reality is that far too many people will fight for decisions that hurt students.”

As the public charter school movement enters its next decade, it’s time to maximize the lessons learned from their past 20 years by turning innovations into reality for all public schools. The resolution of the CTU strike will impact this possibility in urban centers across the country.

This blog originally ran in the National Journal Education Experts Blog on 19 Sept. 2012.
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Learning-From-the-Best-Cooperative-Practices-Between-Charter-and-Traditional-Public-Schools

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Collaboration is a force multiplier when it comes to innovation. Despite popular perception, traditional public schools and charter schools are collaborating on innovation and education reform. The upcoming 2012 national conference on Charter and Traditional Public Schools Collaborative Practices is the second national conference committed to exhibiting successful examples of these district-charter collaborations. The 2012 conference will be held November 5, 2012 in Broomfield, Colorado, just west of Denver near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

The goal of the upcoming conference, exhibiting examples of district-charter collaborations, is to provide sparks that will ignite additional public education partnerships. To further that end, examples of collected practices are now available online at www.charterdistrictcoop.org, where folks can also register for the November conference.

In welcoming participants to the 2010 national conference on district-charter collaborations, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said:

“We need more examples of charter leaders working with the leaders in traditional schools. We need you to be working together to build great schools and to provide students with the world class education they so desperately need and deserve. We can’t let historical tensions or rivalries stop us or get in the way of where we need to go. No third grader in the country really cares or knows, frankly, whether they go to a charter school, traditional school, gifted school, or magnet school. All the child knows is whether they have a great teacher in the classroom, whether the principal knows who they are and whether they have a chance to fulfill their tremendous academic and social potential.”

Thanks and appreciation goes to the following co-hosts of this important conference: the Arizona Charter School Association; The Cleveland Metropolitan School District; The Denver Public Schools; The Colorado League of Charter Schools; CSI Colorado; The Douglas County School District; The Falcon School District; The Georgia Charter School Association; The Illinois Network of Charter Schools; The National Alliance of Public Charter Schools; the New York Charter School Center; New York City Collaborates and the Ohio Alliance for public Charter Schools.

Looking forward to seeing all of you there! Register here!

-Bill Sims
President and CEO
Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools

Click here for more information.

Start-Up-Expenses-and-Federal-Cost-Principles

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Congratulations! You saw the phrase “Federal cost principles” and didn’t run in fear! NAPCS stands ready to support your work throughout the reimbursement process. Successful Federal grant management rests in our ability to understand those expenses defined by the federal government in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Each Federal program has its own rules and policies, but, these principles, set in the CFR, are the basis for allowable spending of federal dollars.

In the coming weeks we will highlight different cost principles, and explain what they mean for you. Today, we start with an analysis of some of the expenses related to start up schools. For more information, read our breakdown here.

Have you experienced difficulties in your reimbursement process, now or in the past? Please let us know about them, so that we can target our efforts to better meet your needs. As always feel to contact me with questions whenever they arise.

Click here for more information.

Media-Round-Up

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

This series features top news, blogs, and social media activity from the week.

NAPCS in the News

"What Public Charter Schools Have Taught Us About Public Education," Op-ed by Nina Rees (president and CEO) in the Huffington Post, 13 Sept. 2012
“Building Block of a Sound Economy,” Nina Rees response in National Journal Education Experts Blog, Sept. 10, 2012
“Push to Add Charter Schools Hangs Over Strike,” Todd Ziebarth (VP State Advocacy) quoted in New York Times, 12 Sept. 2012

News to Know

Undoubtedly, the nation’s eyes were on the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) strike this week, as the school system shut down for the first time in 25 years. However, the city’s public charter schools remained in session during the strike, and gained heightened parental and media attention due to this fact. This week's coverage of charter schools and the CTU strike includes:

"Charter schools in session despite strike," Chicago Tribune, Sept. 9
"Who Will Win Chicago Teachers Strike? Charter Schools," Bloomberg, Sept. 10
"Chicago Teachers Strike Puts Charter Schools in the Spotlight," The Atlantic, Sept. 11
"Charter School Options For Latinos Gain Attention Due To Chicago Teachers' Strike," Sept. 12

Audience Favorites

Facebook—Congratulations to the 12 public charter schools honored as 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools! The program recognizes schools for their high performance and improved student achievement, especially among disadvantaged students. “Great schools don’t happen by chance. Great schools happen by design,” Secretary Arne Duncan said in a speech announcing the awards.

Twitter—@charteralliance participated in the School Choice Facts tweet chat coordinated by National School Choice Week (@schookchoicewk) on Sept. 13. Check out the feed from the discussion by searching hash tag #SchoolChoiceFacts.

You can stay up to date on all the developments in the public charter school sector by subscribing to our regular news updates…Sign up here.

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How-LEA-Status-Impacts-Public-Charter-Schools-for-Special-Education-Purposes

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

The provision of special education services in public charter schools has been getting a lot of attention lately. For such a complex set of issues, it is startling to see how much of this focus has been rather simplistic in nature, merely comparing the percentage of special education students in public charter schools to those in traditional school districts. While such data is important to examine, it is just as critical to understand how complex federal and state policy environments impact those numbers—something rarely discussed, particularly by charter opponents.

As just one example, charter schools serve as their own local education agency (LEA) in 11 states and the District of Columbia. However, when it comes to special education delivery, four of those 11 public charter schools are not independent LEAs, and work with the LEA of the student’s residence in a variety of ways.

Connecticut law requires charter schools to be connected to each student's district of residence LEA for purposes of special education. It requires special education funds to go to the LEA of residence, which is responsible for evaluation and services. In reference to high cost, low-incident cases, the Connecticut statute provides that the LEA pays the charter school, on a quarterly basis, an amount equal to the difference between the reasonable cost of educating high needs students and the amount received via a formula by the charter school.

In the District of Columbia, the law requires a charter school to elect (at the time of application) whether it will be an independent LEA or part of the D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) LEA for special education purposes. The law provides that charter schools that are part of the DCPS LEA for special education purposes receive evaluation services from the school district and that independent LEA charters do not. It also provides that each charter school is responsible for ensuring the provision of special education services whether or not it has elected to be an LEA for special education purposes.

For special education, New Hampshire law provides that the district in which the student resides is considered the LEA in order to determine the student’s correct placement (in a charter or elsewhere). Special education funds flow through the district LEA to the charter LEA. Although the law clearly indicates that the district is the LEA for special education purposes, it neither specifies how special education services are to be provided to charter school students, nor how low-incident, high cost services are to be handled.

New York law is not explicit about which LEA entity is responsible for providing special education services. In practice, the district of the charter student’s residence is the LEA for special education purposes. The law provides charter schools with the choice of whether to provide services directly, hire a third party to provide them, or ask the district to provide them. The law does not explicitly say whether the district must fund the provision of these services when schools opt to have the district provide services, but the district LEA does so in practice. There are provisions in the law and regulations that provide supplemental high cost aid to for high-cost services for charter schools for students with low incidence, relatively severe disabilities.

These policy environments have a great deal of impact on the degree (and how well) public charter schools serve special education students. Moving forward, such impacts need to be more frequently discussed as we tackle this complex set of issues.

If you are interested in learning more about charter LEA status by state, click here or on the image below.

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Congratulations-to-the-2012-National-Blue-Ribbon-Charter-Schools

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Twelve public charter schools were among 269 schools recognized as 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education for demonstrating academic gains and success in closing the achievement gap. “Great schools don’t happen by chance. Great schools happen by design,” Secretary Arne Duncan said in a speech announcing the awards.

NAPCS congratulates these charter schools that are setting a high standard of excellence and using innovative charter models to bring students to greater levels of academic achievement. The 12 public charter schools that earned the 2012 Blue Ribbon Award are:

Tongass School of Arts and Sciences—Ketchikan, Alaska
Challenger Basic School—Gilbert, Arizona
Summit Middle Charter School—Boulder, Colorado
City On A Hill Charter Public School—Roxbury, Massachusetts
Team Academy—Waseca, Minnesota
Albany Community Charter School—Albany, New York
Bronx Charter School for Excellence—Bronx, New York
Success Academy Harlem 1—New York, New York
KIPP Reach College Preparatory School—Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Infinity Charter School—Penbrook, Pennsylvania
East Early College High School—Houston, Texas
Project Chrysalis Middle School—Houston, Texas

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private elementary, middle, and high schools that are high performing or have improved student achievement to high levels, especially among disadvantaged students. The program is part of the U.S. Department of Education’s larger effort to identify and disseminate knowledge about best practices around teaching and school leadership.

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