To give more students access to a quality education, we believe authorizers must take responsibility for the overall performance of their portfolio of schools. Authorizers live up to this responsibility by balancing the core tenants of chartering: accountability, autonomy, and access.
While authorizers play an important role in ensuring charters have the flexibility needed to thrive, we know very little about what authorizers are doing, or not doing, to fulfill this critical obligation to the communities they serve.
That’s why NACSA is launching a new research project—in partnership with our members and authorizers across the country—to learn what charter authorizers can and should do to uphold school autonomy and minimize unnecessary regulation to drive better student outcomes.
Our initial goal is to uncover what is currently happening in the field, from the perspective of both authorizers and charter operators, that preserves or hinders school autonomy. Ultimately, we hope to provide recommendations to authorizers that can help us all create better results for kids.
We need your help. As a first step, we are launching a call for authorizer insight. What are you doing to preserve and expand charter school autonomy? What is driving improvements in performance in your portfolio of schools? Where have you struggled to maintain the balance between autonomy and accountability?
In the coming months, we will also be interviewing high-performing charter operators across the country to gain insights into their experiences and perspectives related to this issue. If you are a school leader, or know one that we should talk to, please let us know by emailing [email protected].
