Download or read book Charter School Authorizers and Oversight written by National Association of Charter School Authorizers and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The basic charter school bargain--freedom in exchange for accountability--presents unique challenges to authorizers. Authorizers must walk a tightrope of sorts, respecting each charter school's independence and distinct mission, while holding every school accountable for educational results and public obligations. Overseeing charter schools is thus a delicate balancing act, which most authorizers must navigate through trial, error and improvisation. To gain perspective on how effective charter school oversight can and should be conducted, the following question was posed to four leaders within the charter school community: "It is a fundamental tenet that charter schools should be held accountable for performance rather than regulated for process. How should authorizers uphold this distinction when conducting charter school oversight?" This brief provides four unique responses to this question and advice and support to authorizers feeling their way through this difficult task. This paper contains the following: (1) Four Guidelines for Charter School Monitoring (Greg Richmond); (2) Regulating for Process: A Response of Unequipped Authorizers (Jim Griffin); (3) Clarity, Quality and Flexibility: Necessities of the Chartering Process (Joe Nathan); and (4) A View from Within: How the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board Effectively Oversees Charter Schools (Jo Baker).
Download or read book Charter schools oversight practices in the District of Columbia report to congressional committees written by United States. Government Accountability Office and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book California Charter Oversight written by Rebecca E. Blanton and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study was mandated by SB537 (Simitian, Chapter 650, Stats. of 2007, codified at Ed. Code Section 47613), which requires the California Research Bureau (CRB) to prepare and submit to the Legislature a report on the key elements and actual costs of charter school oversight. Charter schools are public schools that are operated by entities other than the traditional school district. They are publicly funded, mandated to accept any student who applies, and cannot discriminate based on race, religion, sex, or geographic location. Charter schools are exempted from significant portions of the California Education Code, but are overseen by charter school authorizers. An authorizer is an entity--most often a school district--that approves the formation of a charter school and regularly reviews its academic and financial performance. Authorizers have the power to close underperforming charter schools. Both authorizers and charter schools receive state funds for their operations. Charter schools educate approximately six percent of all California students. Charter authorizers oversee the performance of these schools and are responsible for ensuring that low-performing schools are either improved or closed. Under the direction of the Legislature, CRB examined the relationship between charter authorizers and charter schools, with a special emphasis on financial arrangements that would increase the opportunity for oversight beyond the legislatively mandated oversight activities. Additionally, the Legislature requested that CRB determine if the current funding formula for charter oversight provides sufficient reimbursement for authorizer activities. Finally, CRB addressed the Legislature's request to review best practices for charter school oversight and make recommendations on improving oversight in California. This report presents four key findings. First, the author and her colleagues found that during their study period, authorizers varied widely in both the services they performed and the amounts they charged charter schools for oversight. While some authorizers reported that petition review accounted for less than $1,000 in costs, other authorizers reported petition reviews costing upwards of $112,500. Second, they uncovered no correlation between activities performed for oversight and cost of oversight among study participants. A majority of the respondents had not adopted guidelines to determine what activities or services should be paid for with money received for charter school oversight. Third, few respondents to their survey reported formally accounting for staff time and costs expended conducting charter school oversight. Hence they are unable to provide the Legislature with a meaningful estimate of the true costs of or sufficiency of funding for authorizers' charter school oversight. They found that authorizers ranged from zero to 17 full-time employees dedicated to oversight. While 61 of the 72 respondents were able to provide an estimate on expenditures to revenue ratios, only 16 authorizers reported accounting for their actual oversight costs. Fourth, they found that, while professionally-accepted standards for charter school oversight have begun to emerge, California charter authorizers vary in their adherence to these standards. Several staff at authorizing agencies CRB staff spoke with stated their agency had to "reinvent the wheel" when it came to establishing oversight practices and standards. While some authorizers utilize established professional standards, others create their own unique forms of oversight. SB537 requires CRB to make policy recommendations about the structure and function of charter school oversight. The lack of good information about the costs and revenues including the use of California Education Code section 47613 funding has limited the author's and her colleagues' ability to provide concrete guidance to the Legislature in some areas. Their recommendations are based on current, professionally-accepted standards in charter school authorization and the results of their survey findings. These are: (1) Make charters or charter petitions available to the public; (2) Improve oversight accounting for authorizer reimbursement funds; (3) Define reimbursable oversight activities under California Education Code section 47613; and (4) Use multiple metrics to evaluate charter school performance. Appended are: (1) Advisory Panel; (2) Charter School Authorizer Survey Tool; (3) State Funding Allotments for Oversight Activity; (4) Significant CA Charter School Legislation; (5) Aligned General Oversight Standards; (6) National Consensus Panel on Charter School Academic Quality/National Consensus Panel on Charter School Operational Quality; (7) NACSA Financial Red Flags; (8) Charter School Transparency Laws; (9) Additional Authorizing Experts; (10) Data Overview; and (11) Works Cited. (Contains 15 tables, 18 figures and 2 equations.) [For "California Charter Oversight: Key Elements and Actual Costs. CRB Briefly Stated," see ED528996.
Download or read book Charter Schools written by US Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 2004-2005 school year, District of Columbia (D.C.) charter schools enrolled more than 15,000 students, or approximately 21 percent of D.C.?s public school population--one of the highest proportions in the nation. Charter schools are public schools that are exempt from certain regulations in exchange for accountability in improving student achievement. Charter school authorizers--the entities that approve and oversee charter schools--are responsible for ensuring that charter schools achieve expected student outcomes and comply with applicable laws. In D.C., two entities, the D.C. Board of Education (BOE) and the D.C. Public Charter School Board (PCSB), were established by the School Reform Act as charter school authorizers. The law requires the authorizers to monitor charter schools, but little information is available about the performance of the BOE and PCSB in providing such oversight. As required by the 2005 D.C. Appropriations Act, we examined the performance of D.C. charter school authorizers in their approval and oversight roles.
Download or read book Law and Discretion in California Charter School Oversight written by Kelsey Mayo and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past 25 years, charter schools have grown rapidly both in number and in popularity through market reforms to education at federal, state, and local district levels. With this rise has come a practical and scholarly focus on charter school quality, approached primarily through the proxy of comparative student performance on standardized tests. While results from these inquiries are mixed, substandard or mediocre charter performance poses a legitimacy problem for the charter school as a reform that merits additional investment. If charters do no better than traditional public schools, how do politicians and advocates justify their continued operation or expansion? One strategy to ensure charter quality has been to attend to oversight responsibilities carried out by local and state authorizers. Existing literature on these authorizers has taken a predominantly comparative approach, mapping the oversight structures that emerge in a decentralized regulatory environment with significant legal diversity regarding charter schools. Yet gaps remain in our understanding of how diverse authorizers (particularly within the same state), understand and act on school quality, and in how piecemeal regulatory decisions shape larger educational landscapes and opportunities. To address such gaps, this project trains a sociolegal lens on oversight fora and its participants. How do formal legal requirements shape the local practice of charter oversight? How does embedded discretion affect regulatory processes surrounding compliance and quality judgments? How do alternative ideas of school quality intersect with legal understandings? These questions are grounded by two theoretical concepts: (1) institutional logics- motivating ‘idea bundles’ present in the organizational field and the strategic actions of participants, and (2) the ‘law in action’ paradigm that sees law as a dynamic tool at work both within and beyond its traditional structures. This project stands as a counterpoint to existing research on charter quality that focuses on student performance and measurement outcomes. This study examines the role of law as a primary institutional logic of charter oversight in California, the state with the largest and arguably most diverse population of charter schools in the nation. I focus on charter establishment and renewal petitions to understand how authorizers approach and enact determination of school quality and operational fitness, and how these moments reflect interaction and competition of institutional logics. I examine the participation of different actors and their arguments, finding evidence for three motivating logics of oversight: the legal, the educational, and the market logic. I track how a sample of diverse charter authorizers- from the local district level to the State Board of Education, respond to these arguments and decide to open or to close schools. The project relies on multiple sources, including demographic data on California’s 327 charter authorizers and more than 1,200 charter schools (as of 2017); minutes from local, county, and state oversight fora; 31 interviews and three case studies of specific oversight actions. I also draw on materials relevant to charter operation and oversight, including legal opinions, materials from advocacy organizations, and charter petitions and renewal documents. The first chapter provides background on the demographics of charter schools and the oversight structure in California. Chapter 2 reviews the previous research on charter quality and oversight and delves into the conceptual approaches mentioned briefly above. Chapter 3 presents the research design and methodological strategies. Chapter 4 situates oversight within the organizational and strategic action field of charter schools. It explores the participants, logics, and boundaries revealed in the practice oversight: a contrast to the orderly portrait of regulation suggested by existing legal provision, or “law on the books.” Chapter 5 examines local discretion in chartering decisions and the role of competing logics therein. Chapter 6 focuses on the legalization of the oversight process and the consequences for participants; it also examines law as material resources distributed unequally among charters and the resistance potential contained within the legal logic. Chapter 7 discusses the implications of the research: both theoretically- in thinking about how institutional logics interact to structure the regulatory environment, and practically- for authorizers, charter operators and school communities. The study’s findings challenge the prevalent notion that charter quality is an objective organizational fact. It presents evidence that authorizers’ decisions reflect conflicting institutional currents now present in larger charter environment as well as material disparities among schools. I conclude that the current legal framework of charter oversight in California creates an open stage for actors to debate the nuances and sources of school quality, the suitability of market logics in public structures, and the legitimacy of the charter form itself. On such a stage, law is a dynamic tool in the hands of diverse participants, permitting mobilization toward different ends: arguing for increased market reforms to education, shoring up historic arrangements of local control, or even resisting the erosion of traditional public provision. Following from research in the law and society movement, law also emerges as an unequally distributed material resource, with advantages accruing to the “repeat players” while disadvantaging the position of less-resourced schools and communities. This work has implications for theories of how law unfolds in the unique organizational context of public education, as well as for the construction of equitable and democratic charter oversight structures.
Download or read book D C charter schools strengthening monitoring and process when schools close could improve accountability and ease student transitions report to congressional committees written by United States. Government Accountability Office and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2005 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Charter schools to enhance Education s monitoring and research more charter schoollevel data are needed report to the Secretary of Education written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The National Association of Charter School Authorizers Index of Essential Practices written by National Association of Charter School Authorizers and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Authorizers are as varied as the schools they oversee. Some are responsible for just one charter, while others monitor hundreds of charters serving tens of thousands of students. Some are school districts, while others are independent statewide boards, universities, not-for-profits, or state education agencies. Regardless of their size and type, authorizers must do the important work charged to them by law: deciding which schools should open, monitoring and supporting their progress, and closing those that fail to serve students adequately. There is an emerging consensus on specific authorizer practices that are necessary to do the job well. The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) has created and refined "Principles & Standards" that reflect this consensus. Drawing from that, NACSA has crafted a 12-item "Index of Essential Practices" that provides a baseline measure for authorizers. An individual index score (from 0-12) is a diagnostic tool, and can be used to scan the work across the entire sector. The index score communicates to authorizers if they are doing these essential, key pieces of work. This information can then help begin a dialogue about improving practice. Appended are: (1) Methodology; and (2) NACSA Resources for Authorizers. (Contains 4 footnotes.).
Download or read book Charter Schools written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and the Workforce. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Assessing California s Charter Schools written by Elizabeth G. Hill and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2008-04 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Supporting Charter School Excellence Through Quality Authorizing written by and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Charter Schools against the Odds written by Paul T. Hill and published by Hoover Press. This book was released on 2013-09-01 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The expert contributors to this volume tell how state laws and policies have stacked the deck against charter schools by limiting the number of charter schools allowed in a state, forbidding for-profit firms from holding charters, forcing them to pay rent out of operating funds, and other ways. They explain how these policies can be amended to level the playing field and give charter schools—and the children they serve—a fairer chance to succeed.
Download or read book Supporting Charter School Excellence Through Quality Authorizing written by Department of Education, Washington, DC. and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most policymakers, charter school operators, and others immersed in the charter school movement since it began in the early 1990s have focused their attention primarily on charter schools, not on the public bodies that license these schools to operate. As the charter school movement has grown, there has been increasing recognition that effective charter school authorizing is critical to the success of the charter school sector. Charter school authorizers are entities charged by law to approve new schools, monitor their compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and evaluate their performance to make decisions about charter renewal and closure. The role of charter authorizers has become particularly important in the context of increasing accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Intended primarily for policymakers and charter school authorizers and potential authorizers, this guide describes various ways that authorizers and policymakers can achieve quality authorizing. It provides detailed information designed to help policymakers at the state and national levels and to help current and potential authorizers replicate these successful models and practices. In order to provide specific illustrations of abstract concepts involved in successful charter authorizing, this guide highlights the practices of eight charter authorizers that have fostered the development of high-quality charter schools. Part 1 of this guide describes the common practices of the eight charter authorizers profiled here. This guide describes how effective authorizers: build a strong organization; develop a strong talent pool; select for quality; support new school operators; provide meaningful and transparent oversight; and hold schools accountable for meeting performance goals. Part II describes the kinds of policy factors that can either support or hinder quality charter authorizing practices. Part III offers profiles of each of the eight authorizers that are highlighted throughout Parts I and II. The profiles cover the history of each of these authorizers and provide more detail on the contexts in which they operate. Appended is the research methodology and a list of resources of organizations, Web sites, essays, and research studies that address elements of successful authorizing and oversight of charter schools. (Contains 16 figures and 2 tables.) [This document was also prepared by Public Impact.].
Download or read book Charter Schools written by California. State Auditor (2013- ) and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Public Accountability for Charter Schools written by Leigh Dingerson and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2012-2013, a working group of grassroots organizers and leaders from around the country met under the auspices of the "Annenberg Institute for School Reform" (AISR) and "Communities for Public Education Reform" (CPER) to explore the impact of rapid charter expansion on parents, students, and communities. The participants, from Chicago, Philadelphia, Newark, New York, and other cities, brought first-hand experience and years of working directly with impacted communities and families, rather than relying only on limited measures such as standardized test scores to assess impact. The group found some common concerns: uneven academic performance; practices that pushed or kept students out of charter schools; overly harsh discipline policies; funding patterns that destabilized traditional schools; and a lack of representative governance, transparency, and adequate oversight, leading to potential conflicts of interest and instances of fraud and other problems. To better understand how current charter policy and practice have impacted communities and how they might be revised to provide solutions for these concerns the set of standards and recommendations presented in this report is the culmination of this work. This report hopes to provide guidance to state legislatures, charter authorizers, and other bodies tasked with charter school oversight and to provide communities with concrete recommendations to take to policymakers as they continue to press for access, equity, and public accountability.
Download or read book The State of Charter School Authorizing 2013 written by National Association of Charter School Authorizers and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report summarizes findings of a comprehensive national survey that covers authorizer adoption of Essential Practices, as well as important context about the evolution of the authorizing profession itself. There are some gratifying results, with near-unanimous adoption of such key practices as requiring financial audits of schools and performance contracts between authorizers and schools. The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) extensive evaluation work discloses, for example, that there can be wide variation in the quality of contracts executed by one authorizer versus another. It's clear, though, that this report presents a strong argument for capacity and scale: NACSA's survey sample includes nearly all large authorizers active during the 2012-2013 school year. Large authorizers, who oversee approximately 66% of the charter school student population, have increasingly implemented more of NACSA's Essential Practices, whether considered cross-sectionally for each year or longitudinally for authorizers that responded both years. Conversely, the 2013 results indicate that it is more difficult for small authorizers to establish a full range of professional practices. Authorizers located within traditional education systems (local and state education agencies) seem to have a harder time adopting strong authorizer practices than those located in other types of organizations. Independent chartering boards, the statewide agencies created solely to approve and oversee charter schools, score highest among all types of authorizers across a number of categories, suggesting that their tight focus on charter school quality provides a strong incentive for honing their own skills. That is one reason NACSA has fought to establish such agencies and has helped defend them when threatened by legal and political attacks.
Download or read book Evidence Required a Critical Review of CRC s Improving Oversight of Michigan Charter Schools and Authorizers written by Michael Van Beek and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-14 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
