Download or read book Partnerships Between Charter Schools and Other Organizations A Guide for State Policymakers written by Joanna Smith and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This state policy guide looks at partnerships between charter schools and community, faith-based, and for-profit organizations as one way for these schools to access essential goods and services. Each type of partnership poses specific challenges and opportunities, and, based on a review of charter school legislation and interviews with state charter school administrators, the guide explores ways in which state laws and policies address partnership development. Community involvement is included as one intention of the charter school law in 13 states. Fifteen states require evidence of community involvement or support in the charter school application, and 5 states encourage community involvement on the charter school board. State laws and policies are more restrictive around partnerships between charter schools and faith-based organizations: 15 states prohibit faith-based organizations from applying to open a charter school, 26 states include broad restrictions against the involvement of faith-based organizations with charter schools, and 3 states allow partnerships with faith-based organizations solely for facility use. For-profit involvement is restricted in some cases and allowed in others: Laws in 16 states prohibit for-profit organizations from applying to open a charter school; in two states, charter schools must report any involvement with for-profit entities. Thirteen states allow partnerships with for-profit organizations for facilities, 17 states allow partnerships for services, and three states allow for-profit organizations to apply to open a charter school. The guide outlines the pros and cons of each policy option with illustrative examples from existing state law and practice. It raises issues that state policymakers may want to consider related to charter school partnerships and aims to help them identify approaches to partnerships that best meet the needs of charter schools in their states. (Contains 3 tables, 9 resources and 4 footnotes.) [This paper was written with the assistance from Priscilla Wohlstetter and Guilbert Hentschke.].
Download or read book Involving Teachers in Charter School Governance written by Cecilia Sam and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guide for state policymakers examines teacher involvement in charter school governance. Teacher involvement is defined to include the gamut of decision-making roles not typically afforded teachers in traditional public schools, including founding schools, serving on governing boards, and engaging in site-based collective bargaining. Different types of involvement pose specific challenges and opportunities. Based on a review of charter school legislation and interviews with state charter school administrators to identify policy options, the guide explores ways in which state laws and policies shape teacher involvement. Teacher involvement polices are intended to define the roles and responsibilities of teachers and vary across the 40 states and the District of Columbia with charter school laws. Teachers are required to be involved with the development of the school charter in four states. Six states require a teacher representative on a charter school's governing board, and one state requires charter schools to create a teacher-run grievance committee. Twenty-two state laws specify that charter school teachers are allowed to engage in collective bargaining separately from the district in which their school is located. The guide outlines the pros and cons of each policy option with illustrative examples from existing state law and practice. It raises issues that state policymakers may want to consider related to teacher involvement in charter school governance and aims to help them identify approaches that best meet the needs of charter schools in their state. (Contains 1 table, 6 resources and 7 footnotes.) [This paper was written with assistance from Joanna Smith and Priscilla Wohlstetter.].
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Education written by Michael D. Waggoner and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-01 with total page 557 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the founding of Harvard College in 1636 as a mission for training young clergy to the landmark 1968 Supreme Court decision in Epperson v. Arkansas, which struck down the state's ban on teaching evolution in schools, religion and education in the United States have been inextricably linked. Still today new fights emerge over the rights and limitations of religion in the classroom. The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Education brings together preeminent scholars from the fields of religion, education, law, and political science to craft a comprehensive survey and assessment of the study of religion and education in the United States. The essays in the first part develop six distinct conceptual lenses through which to view American education, including Privatism, Secularism, Pluralism, Religious Literacy, Religious Liberty, and Democracy. The following four parts expand on these concepts in a diverse range of educational frames: public schools, faith-based K-12 education, higher education, and lifespan faith development. Designed for a diverse and interdisciplinary audience, this addition to the Oxford Handbook series sets for itself a broad goal of understanding the place of religion and education in a modern democracy.
Download or read book Identifying Leaders for Urban Charter Autonomous and Independent Schools written by Kimberly B. Hughes and published by Emerald Group Publishing. This book was released on 2013-02-15 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A critical challenge for urban charter/autonomous/independent schools is finding educational leaders with the courage to lead with authenticity; integrity and ingenuity. This title begins by cultivating the balance of self, personal and professional, that guides leaders to manage operational and educational demands of leading a school.
Download or read book Creating and Sustaining High Quality Charter School Governing Boards A Guide for State Policymakers written by Elizabeth A. Butler and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This guide for state policymakers examines the laws, policies, and programs that states are using to create and sustain high-quality charter school governing boards. In particular, the guide focuses on the two aspects of governing boards that interviews with state administrators revealed are most critical for a board's success: board composition and recruitment and board training. States address board composition and recruitment in three ways. First, charter school laws in 14 states require (or prohibit) each charter school's governing board to include specific types of people, most commonly, teachers or parents. Second, three jurisdictions have created pools of potential board members to help match schools with qualified board members who have the time, skills, and aptitude to serve. Third, in four states, authorizers appoint or approve board members rather than placing this authority with individual charter schools. Although board training is mandated by law in only one state, interviewees in eleven states reported that training requirements are imposed by the state department of education or charter school authorizers. In addition, numerous states provide voluntary board training opportunities. The guide outlines the pros and cons of the prevalent policy options related to board composition and recruitment and board training with illustrative examples from existing state law and practice. It also raises issues state policymakers may want to consider in adopting new policies and aims to help them identify approaches that best meet the needs of charter schools in their state. (Contains 1 table, 8 footnotes and 17 resources.) [This paper was written with the assistance from Joanna Smith and Priscilla Wohlstetter.].
Download or read book Choices and Challenges written by Priscilla Wohlstetter and published by Harvard Education Press. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As charter schools enter their third decade, research in this key sector remains overwhelmingly contradictory and confused. Many studies are narrowly focused; some do not meet the standards for high-quality academic research. In this definitive work, Wohlstetter and her colleagues isolate and distill the high-quality research on charter schools to identify the contextual and operational factors that influence these schools’ performances. The authors examine the track record of the charter sector in light of the wide range of goals set for these schools in state authorizing legislation—at the classroom level, the level of the school community, and system-wide. In particular, they show how the evolution of the charter movement has shaped research questions and findings. By highlighting what we know about the conditions for success in charter schools, the authors make a significant contribution to current debates in policy and practice, both within the charter sector and in the larger landscape of public education.
Download or read book Increasing Charter School Accountability Through Interventions and Closures written by Joey Gustafson and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A basic premise of charter school reform in public education is offering more autonomy in the use of funds and the design of curriculum in exchange for greater accountability in academic and financial outcomes. This premise poses a significant policy challenge for state policymakers to establish an appropriate level of regulation; charter schools must be sufficiently independent yet still conform to most state and federal education and financial management laws. This guide examines the laws, policies, and programs that states use to establish consequences for financial mismanagement in charter schools. It discusses how states define the financial conditions for intervention. It also describes the approaches to corrective actions for deficient charter schools and the procedures for closing charter schools. The guide reviews the prevalent policy options and provides examples from existing state laws and practices. It also raises issues that state policymakers may want to consider when adopting or amending approaches to establishing consequences for charter school financial mismanagement. Specifically, this guide will help state policymakers consider the various policy options for defining financial conditions for state intervention, determining appropriate corrective actions for deficient schools, and establishing procedures for closing schools. The guide concludes by stating that policymakers must create appropriate oversight procedures and processes for intervention and closure that are clear, fair, and effective. (Contains 4 footnotes and a list of resources.) [This publication was written with Nina Salomon and William Schmid and produced by the National Resource Center on Charter School Finance and Governance, a collaborative effort of the Center on Educational Governance at the University of Southern California, The Finance Project, and WestEd.].
Download or read book A State Policymaker s Guide to Alternative Authorizers of Charter Schools ECS Issue Brief written by Bryan Hassel and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since their inception, charter schools have been controversial. Because they often operate outside the direct control of school boards, superintendents and teachers unions, these entities usually view charter schools skeptically. The funding of charter schools also has provoked discomfort among these entities because they feel money is unfairly lost to charter schools when a student transfers from a non-charter public school to a charter public school. Lastly, although research about the academic performance of charter schools is emerging, a consensus on what the results mean remains elusive. Without that consensus, the debate about the effectiveness of charter schools is contentious. The type of entities that may authorize charter schools varies from state to state. During the 2004-05 school year, there were over 800 charter school authorizers across the country. The vast majority-over 700-were local school boards. The rest were non-local school board authorizers, i.e., "alternative authorizers." Of the over 100 alternative authorizers, 44 were regional educational entities; 37 were universities and colleges; 22 were state boards, commissioners and departments of education; 17 were nonprofit organizations; five were independent special-purpose charter boards; and two were mayors and city councils. Appendix A contains information about which entities may authorize charter schools in each state. This paper's purpose is to help state policymakers think through what kind of alternative authorizing structures may make sense for their states. The paper presents the advantages, disadvantages and policy considerations for each of the seven types of alternative authorizers. In addition, it discusses the critical design issues facing states interested in creating alternative authorizers. (Contains 12 endnotes.) [The U.S. Department of Education's Public Charter Schools Program provided funding for this paper.].
Download or read book Creating Strategic Partnerships written by Marilyn J. Amey and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-07-03 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the characteristics and conditions that lead to successful educational partnerships?What can we learn from partnerships that fail, cannot be sustained over time, or cease to benefit their partners?This book serves as a guide to the successful implementation of partnerships. It provides the context and tools for readers who are responding to the increasing demands of policy makers, funders and institutional leaders to use partnerships to address local, state and federal issues, achieve external mandates, meet public or internal agendas, or pursue international collaborations. This guide provides an evidence-based framework for institutional and organizational leaders to develop the vision, shared values and norms to achieve the “partnership capital” that will sustain an enduring relationship. It offers a three-phase model of the development process of collaboration, together with a tool box for those charged with partnering and leading organizational change, and includes a template for both creating new partnerships and sustaining existing ones.The authors start by differentiating between “traditional,” often ad-hoc, partnerships and “strategic partnerships” that align organizational strategy with partnership actions; and by identifying the importance of moving beyond incremental or surface “first order” change to develop deep “second order change” through which underlying structures and operations are questioned and new processes emerge due to the partnership. They offer analyses and understandings of seven key components for success: exploring motivations; developing partner relationships; communicating and framing purpose; creating collaborative structures and resources; leading various partnership stages; generating partnership capital; and implementing strategies for sustaining partnerships. Each chapter concludes with a case study to provide more understanding of the ideas presented, and for use in training or classes. This guide is addressed to policy makers and educational leaders, college administrators, and their non-profit and business partners, to enable them to lead and create strategic partnerships and facilitate organizational change.
Download or read book Creating School Partnerships that Work written by Frances K. Kochan and published by IAP. This book was released on 2020-07-01 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THIS IS A UNIQUE BOOK. IF YOU CARE ABOUT SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLING AND THE WAY IN WHICH PARTNERSHIPS MAY HELP TO STRENGTHEN AND IMPROVE THEM AND THE INSTITUTIONS THAT PARTNER WITH THEM, YOU SHOULD READ IT! School partnerships have a long history in the United States. The inception of public schooling was a type of partnership with the community. The concept of local school boards and local control was integral to the establishment of schools and the idea that public education was a public good has deep roots in the country. Partnerships denote relationships which are mutually beneficial to the parties involved and which result in joint benefits for those who create and engage in them. The partnerships presented in this book provide ample evidence of the value and benefits of these arrangements. The book contains stories and research about school partnerships from a variety of groups and perspectives, which are focused upon multiple issues within educational institutions and communities within the United States. The final chapter, presents an analysis across all the partnerships to identify the elements that fostered and hindered their success and the primary lessons learned. This analysis should provide meaningful information for those engaged in developing and operating similar partnerships or those involved in conducting research on or about them. Although the cases presented in this book occur within the United States, the findings may also have relevance for similar initiatives in other countries. Praise for Creating School Partnerships that Work: A Guide for Practice and Research: Kudos to Dana Griggs and Frances Kochan for compiling the rich accountings of eight different school partnerships all in one place. Readers will learn a great deal from both the individual accountings of a broad array of partnerships as well as the collective analysis of the partnerships and lessons learned across them. Creating School Partnerships that Work:A Guide for Research and Practice is a must-read book for anyone who ever has been, is, or desires to be involved in any type of school partnership. Nancy Fichtman Dana, Professor, School of Teaching and Learning University of Florida, Gainesville Creating School Partnerships that Work: A Guide for Research and Practice is a must read for scholars, researchers, practitioners, and community members seeking to identify elements of successful school partnerships that foster students' academic and personal successes. This edited volume shares stakeholders' perspectives on multi-dimensional school partnerships, which have successfully led to sustained collaborations across diverse purposes that are mutually beneficial for all groups. The usefulness of the content analysis presented in the final chapter, which identifies elements both fostering and hindering partnerships with recommendations, cannot be overstated. Mary Barbara Trube, Professor Emerita, Ohio University-Chillicothe Contributing Faculty & Dissertation Mentor, Walden University Early Childhood Education Adjunct Faculty, Florida SouthWestern State College Mentor & Early Childhood Consultant, ILEAD Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Download or read book A Guide to Building Education Partnerships written by Matthew T. Hora and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-07-03 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Education partnerships are central to – and often a requirement of – most education reform initiatives promoted by state and local governments, by foundations, and by business funders. Many fail for failure to understand the dynamics of their complex relationships.This book provides insights and guidance to enable prospective and existing education partners to develop answers to the questions that are critical to success: Why engage in this partnership? How can you communicate the potential benefits of partnership to motivate teachers, faculty, administrators, and community members? How do you select the best organizational structure and procedures for a partnership? How can you maintain open, deliberative discussion while respecting different histories and cultures? How can you produce compelling evidence that the partnership is worthwhile? Based on their observation of a five-year-long publicly funded partnership, research data, and the literature, the authors identify the principles that they consider critical to answering these questions. The authors do not minimize the differences and complexities inherent in partnership work, because they believe that doing so would be to present coherence and homogeneity where none exists. Instead, they seek to make evident how these principles underlie many different partnership situations. Thus, rather than presenting a package of best practices, or a cookie-cutter approach, this book presents the organizational principles for planning and implementing education partnerships, along with sets of strategies for working through them. The authors present the diagnostic tools for undertaking a deliberate and research-based approach to planning, designing, and managing a partnership. By surfacing participants’ often-differing motivations, and the practices and assumptions they bring to the table, the book provides the foundation for developing a constructive relationship. In scope, the book extends beyond school-university partnerships to include schools’ collaboration with state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, and the business sector.
Download or read book From Promising to Proven A Wise Giver s Guide to Expanding on the Success of Charter Schools written by Karl Zinsmeister and published by The Philanthropy Roundtable. This book was released on 2014-03-25 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty-five years ago, charter schools hadn’t even been dreamed up. Today they are mushrooming across the country. There are 6,500 charter schools operating in 42 states, with more than 600 new ones opening every year. Within a blink there will be 3 million American children attending these freshly invented institutions (and 5 million students in them by the end of this decade). It is philanthropy that has made all of this possible. Without generous donors, charter schools could never have rooted and multiplied in this way. And philanthropists have driven relentless annual improvements—better trained school founders, more prepared teachers, sharper curricula, smarter technology—that have allowed charter schools to churn out impressive results. Studies show that student performance in charter schools is accelerating every year, as high-performing models replace weaker ones. Charter schools as a whole already exceed conventional schools in results. The top charters that are now growing so fast elevate student outcomes more than any other schools in the U.S.—especially among poor and minority children. Charter schooling may be the most important social innovation of our age, and it is just beginning to boom. Philanthropists anxious to improve America have more opportunities to make a difference through charter schools than in almost any other way. This book provides the facts, examples, cautionaries, inspiration, research, and practical experience that philanthropists will need as charter schooling shifts gears from promising experiment to mainstream movement bringing improved opportunity to millions of students.
Download or read book The Charter School Roadmap written by Education Commission of the States and published by Department of Education. This book was released on 1998 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To provide policymakers, practitioners, and other education leaders with the knowledge needed to consider the issues surrounding charter schools, a survey of these schools is offered. The text opens with an overview of charter-school basics, including the types of schools that are permissible and the legal status of charter schools. It analyzes the students served by charters and provides data on the total number of charter schools and the students attending them. How to sponsor a charter school, including the appeals process, is described, along with finance and fundraising, the funding approach, per-pupil expenditure, startup costs, facilities, temporary financial assistance, noninstructional services, and transportation. Issues of autonomy are described, such as waivers and control of budget, and information on oversight, renewal, and revocation is discussed. Details are also provided on teachers and staff, including teacher certification, salaries, pensions and benefits, and collective bargaining. Three appendices provide legislative examples of charters, list charter-school resources, and give a state-by-state analysis of charter-school laws. (RJM)
Download or read book Where Charter School Policy Fails written by Amy Stuart Wells and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this provocative volume, Amy Stuart Wells and her co-authors provide evidence that the laissez-faire policies of charter school reform often exacerbate existing inequalities in our schools. Providing the most comprehensive, critical review of charter schools to date, this timely volume is based on the authors’ in-depth study of 10 urban, suburban, and rural school districts and 17 diverse charter schools in California, plus their analysis of other charter school studies from around the country. Focusing on two central issues—accountability and equity—they explore how charter school policies affect the lives of children, educators, and parents in diverse social, economic, and political contexts. The authors conclude that although the quality and experiences of charter schools is highly varied across different contexts, the laws that allow these schools to exist fail to assure meaningful accountability. Meanwhile, these policies increase inequality and stratification by pushing the educational system toward privatization in terms of finance and admissions while failing to target much-needed resources toward low-income communities. This dynamic book will help educators and policymakers develop a future policy agenda for charter school reform that will be more responsive to the needs of all children. “The authors, for the first time, make sense of the diverse and diffuse charter school ‘movement.’ They argue that the lack of support, the absence of equity provisions in state laws, and the burnout of many charter school personnel have led to the beginning of the end of this—yet another—school reform. This book provides important lessons for all who care about public education.” —Jean Anyon, Graduate Center, City University of New York
Download or read book A State Policymaker s Guide to Alternative Authorizers of Charter Schools written by Bryan C. Hassel and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Charter Schools and Accountability in Public Education written by Paul T. Hill and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004-05-13 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charter schools are among the most debated and least understood phenomena in American education today. At the heart of these matters is a contested question of accountability. To survive, charter schools must make and keep promises about what students will experience and learn under their purview. However, unlike public schools, charter schools do not rely exclusively on their relationship with school districts. They must also look to parents, teachers, and donors to cooperatively establish expectations of a particular school and its mission. Aimed toward elected officials, school reform activists, and educators, this book is the result of the first national-scale study of charter school accountability. The authors researched one hundred-fifty schools and sixty authorizing agencies in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Michigan. These states contain the majority of charter schools that have been operating for three years or more and represent the major differences in state charter school legislation. The authors include interviews from a range of participants in the field©¡from state legislators and administrators to principals, teachers, and parents. In assessing the structure of accountability as it works internally to bolster external confidence, Hill and Lake suggest the struggle of charter schools actually complements those of standards based reform. Both seek to transform public education to make schools responsible for performance, not compliance.
Download or read book Partnership Schools written by Sean Gill and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In at least ten cities across the country, there are schools that operate under some sort of partnership school model: a "third way" governance strategy that breaks through district-charter divides that could help improve struggling schools or increase the number of quality school options in a neighborhood. Like charter schools, partnership schools enjoy more freedom of action than a traditional district-run school. Partnership schools are legally distinct from charter schools, which are authorized under a specific process outlined by a state's charter school law, while partnership schools may be permitted under a separate state law. This brief examines the "third way" approach to school improvement and provides guidance for district and charter leaders and policymakers considering partnership schools.
