YES Prep Wins $250,000 Prize at National Charter Schools Conference

According to the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Press and the Sacramento Bee, the public charter school network YES Prep Public Schools won the inaugural Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools, which comes with $250,000 to help low-income students prepare for college. YES has 10 middle and high school campuses in Houston which together serve 5,400 students. Another 9,000 students are on the school’s waiting lists. The award was announced Thursday at the National Charter Schools Conference in Minneapolis. “It is remarkable to see a system of schools that is not only taking students who are one or more grade levels behind in math and reading, but also making sure that every single graduate is accepted into a four-year college,” said U.S. Deputy Education Secretary Tony Miller, who announced the winner. "This award shines the spotlight on the charter school movement's next great challenge, which is to achieve quality with scale," said Nina Rees, CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Sources: Houston Chronicle, Houston Press, Sacramento Bee

Obama and Romney Right to Agree on Charters

In a Huffington Post op-ed, Richard Whitmire explains why President Obama and Mitt Romney agree on one important thing: “Launch more great charter schools.” After a visit to New York’s True North Troy Preparatory, Whitmire asks: “Ever wonder what a school would look like that was staffed entirely by best-in-the-nation teachers, all working together with rhythm, collaboration and purpose?” School founder Doug Lemov’s book, Teach Like a Champion has sold 400,000 copies. “The point here is not True North's success, but rather the rapid spread of successful teaching techniques pioneered by charter teachers,” Whitmire writes. Whitmire also praises San Jose, California’s Rocketship Education, which has pioneered blended learning. “Rocketship has figured out a way to run great schools on a modest budget, keep its teachers from burning out at high rates and build a leadership cadre for rapid expansion.” Finally, Whitmire cites New York's Relay Graduate School of Education: “another place where the charter-generated teaching techniques that have proven effective with high poverty minority students get passed along. Traditional teacher colleges that fail to learn from Relay risk irrelevance.”

Source: Huffington Post

How Special Education Really Works

In a Huffington Post op-ed, Thomas B. Fordham Institute Executive Vice President Michael J. Petrilli puts the Government Accountability Office’s report on special education and public charter schools in context. Petrilli reviewed special education data for Montgomery County, Maryland, which is widely considered one of the best large districts in the country. He found that at 13 percent of Montgomery County’s schools, less than one percent of students fall into this category. Another 26 percent have 2 percent of fewer severely disabled students. “Should the GAO put out a report blasting Montgomery County for skirting its responsibilities?” Petrilli writes. “Of course not. What Montgomery County is doing — what every school district of any size does — is to create special programs at particular schools that can better meet the needs of students with particular disabilities. (Five of its schools enroll 40 percent-plus students with severe disabilities.)…No single public school is expected to serve students with every single type of disability. Scratch that: Except for charter schools, which are somehow expected to do the impossible.”

Source: Huffington Post

Editorial: Michigan’s Emergency Managers Smart to Charter Entire Districts

A Detroit News editorial praises the announcement by emergency managers of two Michigan school districts to charter the entire districts, a plan that has the approval of State Superintendent Mike Flanagan. “Muskegon Heights Public Schools and the Highland Park School District are buried in debt. Even worse, these districts have let their students down,” the News writes. Allowing charter management companies to operate the districts’ schools will allow charters to devote the full amount of their state foundation grants to educating students, while their authorizers, the districts, can allocate local tax revenues to paying down the debt. Charter conversions will allow also free the schools from “restrictive teacher union contracts.” According to ACT standards, zero percent of Muskegon Heights high school students are ready for college; Highland Park scores are similar. “Some have called this plan risky. Yet it's the status quo that poses the most harm.”

Source: Detroit News

DC Public Charter School Board Streamlines Application Process for Experienced Operators

According to a DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB) press release, the board is looking for experienced and successful charter school operators to open new schools in Washington, DC. New application guidelines will streamline and accelerate the process for experienced operators who have successful track records in other cities. Under the new guidelines, an operator could apply in October, gain approval by December and open a new school by August 2013. “We know there are many charter school operators around the country achieving impressive results through a diversity of approaches to educating students,” said Brian W. Jones, PCSB Board Chair. “Our board is committed to ensuring that DC is a top destination for successful charter school operators across the country, in order to expand access to high-quality school options for DC families.” PCSB executive director Scott Pearson said that while “DC has always benefitted from strong homegrown operators…With this new policy we are broadening our outreach.”

Source: DC Public Charter School Board

Toolkit Offers Guide for Setting up Charter School Special Ed Programs

According to Education Daily, the National Charter School Resource Center at the American Institutes for Research issued a 79-page guide this month on starting and implementing special education programs in public charter schools. The topics include discipline, suspension, and expulsion; hiring a special ed coordinator; and contracting with related service providers. "Currently, there are guidance and support tools to assist charter school leaders in the submission of a [charter school] application, and many other resources are available to them once a school is in full operation," the authors write. "However, little information or support exists to assist school leaders and special education managers in their efforts to build a special education program from the ground up to ensure that appropriate supports are available on opening day." The authors also acknowledge the particular difficulties stand-alone charters face in building special education programs when not supported by a district or network.

Source: Education Daily (subscription)