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Guest-Blog:-Rally-at-the-Georgia-State-Capitol-in-Support-of-Georgia-Charter-Schools-Commission

Wed, 18 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Nearly 500 charter schools supporters rallied on the front steps of the Georgia State Capitol Building on Tuesday, May 17, in support of the 16 charter schools approved by the Georgia Charter Schools Commission, an entity that was ruled unconstitutional by four of the seven judges on the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday.

The event was highlighted by spirited remarks from influential politicians such as Georgia House Speaker Pro-Tem Jan Jones, Sen. Chip Rogers and Rep. Alisha Morgan, as well as Nina Gilbert, head of school, Ivy Preparatory, Ivy Prep sixth grader Lauren Williams, Peachtree Hope Principal Kendra Shipman, Museum School mom Annemarie Eades and Tony Roberts, president and CEO, Georgia Charter School Association.

The rally garnered scores of media coverage. Here are some of those clips:

Hundreds protest overturning of charter school law
Gwinnett Daily Post

Hundreds Rally Against Charter School Ruling
WSB-TV 2 Atlanta

Supremes say charter schools out, Senate says not so quick
The Fayette Citizen

Hundreds protest Ga. charter school ruling
Seattle Post Intelligencer

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Measuring-Up-to-the-Model:-A-Ranking-of-State-Public-Charter-School-Laws

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Today, we released the third annual edition of Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of State Public Charter School Laws. This report evaluates, scores, and ranks each of the country’s 42 state charter school laws against the 20 essential components from the NAPCS model law.

2011 was a significant year for charter school policy across the country, as evidenced by the shifts in this year’s report. Here are the major takeaways from the report:

Sixteen states saw their charter school law scores increase, 22 states’ overall scores remained the same, and four states fell in their overall score.
In the 2011 rankings, the average score of all states with a charter school law was 100 (out of a maximum possible 208), and in this year’s rankings the average state score rose to 107, demonstrating that state charter laws are improving.
By aligning their recently enacted charter school law with the NAPCS model law, Maine’s law landed at the top spot on this year’s list. Mississippi’s law remains at the bottom of the list.
Additionally, as a result of positive policy changes made over the past year, New Mexico made a big jump in the rankings, moving from 20th to fourth; Indiana went from 25th to sixth; and Rhode Island from 37th to 26th.
Conversely, Georgia fell from seventh to 14th. In addition, South Carolina fell six spots from 19th to 25th. And four states dropped five places: Missouri (13th to 18th), Oklahoma (22nd to 27th), Connecticut (24th to 29th), and New Jersey (26th to 31st).
The top 10 states with laws best positioned to support the growth of high-quality charter schools are Maine, Minnesota, Florida, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Indiana, Colorado, New York, California and Michigan.

What’s most encouraging about the charter school movement’s legislative efforts is that they’re more frequently marrying growth and quality. As we’ve long argued at NAPCS, the long- term viability of the charter school movement is primarily dependent on the quality of the charter schools that open. It’s critical that state lawmakers recognize the importance of charter school quality – and the impact that their laws have on it. We are glad to see that they are increasingly doing so.

Notwithstanding this progress, much work remains to be done to ensure that charter school laws support the promise of the charter school concept. From lifting arbitrary caps on growth to providing full autonomy to ensuring accountability for performance to providing equitable funding and facilities support, more states than not have work left on their to-do list with regard to establishing a strong charter school law.

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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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Ohio-Takes-a-Step-in-the-Right-Direction-by-Requiring-Transparency

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Ten Ohio public charter schools are in the process of completely severing ties with a private charter management company that has been under intense scrutiny for mismanaging the schools’ funds. The resolution of this dispute will allow charter school leaders to focus on quality, which is seen in student achievement, and other pivotal issues like cultivating a collaborative culture for parents, teachers and students. Their efforts are exemplary—these proceedings are a testament to the level of accountability and transparency all charter school leaders and operators should continually strive. I expounded on this issue in the Huffington Post.

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Oprah-Gives-Millions-for-Charter-Children

Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Charter schools just got the gift of a lifetime. Yesterday, Oprah Winfrey gave out the last Oprah’s Angel Network grants – and the recipients were all charter schools. How’s that for going out with a bang?

The September 20, 2010 episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was dedicated to the new documentary, “Waiting for Superman," and featured a special presentation of $1 million grants by Ms. Winfrey to six high-performing charter school networks. These organizations were recognized for producing great student outcomes and living out the spirit of "Waiting for Superman” with the great work they do every day.

Congratulations to The Mastery Charter Schools of Philadelphia; Aspire Public Schools in California; Denver School of Science and Technology; LEARN Charter School in Chicago; New Orleans Charter Science and Math Academy; and YES Prep Public Schools in Houston.

Ms. Winfrey will continue the conversation on the "Oprah" Show's LIVE episode on Friday, September 24, 2010. I’m told it will be a rich dialogue including many more voices with a stake in public education. Stay tuned…

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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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The-Truth-About-Myths

Thu, 26 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Paul Farhi’s recent WaPo piece, “Five myths about America’s schools,” has created a swirl of opposition in the blogosphere (see here, here, and here for starters). To add a little more fuel to the fire, I’ll briefly weigh in on “myth #4: Charter schools are the answer.”

Farhi raises a point of contention that charter schools are “siphoning off” more motivated students and parents who have “mastered the intricacies of admission.” Come on…we’re not talking about admission to elite New York City preschools here. By definition, charter schools are to have open-enrollment policies for vacant spaces and a lottery drawing for spaces that open up to students on a waitlist. The admissions process usually entails filling out a form with basic contact information, same as on the first day of a traditional public school.

Farhi also charges that the enthusiasm about charter schools is “all for results that are not uniformly impressive.” Like in the traditional school system, there are high and low performing charter schools. Nobody denies this. But the potential of the charter model is space for innovation to develop and grow promising designs and close down schools that are not meeting performance requirements. And to trivialize the exciting results that high-performing charter schools have yielded is as ludicrous as claiming that charters alone will save the education system. As Luke Kohlmoos notes, “Most would say that charter schools are a component of a larger context. Some charters are good and some are bad. This myth is arguing against nobody at all.”

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What-is-a-public-charter-school003F

Fri, 11 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

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. We asked some of these individuals to tell us why they are a part of the charter schools movement.

As executive director of the Public Charter Schools Alliance of South Carolina, Mary Carmichael gets asked all the time about charter schools. Here’s her answer to the most basic, but most important question: What is a public charter school?

It is a community where teachers are empowered to foster a lifelong love of discovering and applying new knowledge.

It is a community where families have the opportunity to see their children flourish in a learning environment aligned to their needs.

It is a community where school leaders are educational entrepreneurs allocating resources and developing a faculty of instructional innovators to advance the mission of the school.

It is a community where boards are held accountable for being excellent stewards of public funds and improving students’ academic achievement.

What is a public charter school?
Public charter schools embody our American ideals of independent, innovative thinkers and doers. They are public schools with the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for improving student achievement.

National Charter School Week is an exciting time to be joining charter school leaders from across the country in Washington, D.C. to celebrate 20 years of innovation in public charter schools and to share knowledge on how to transform public education for all children in all of our communities.

What is a public charter school?
It is a community where we all can make a difference in the life of a child and impact in our collective future.

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