NACSA Blog

NACSA Blog

Press Releases


National Association of Charter School Authorizers Applauds Bipartisan Congressional Vote on Charter School Quality

With today’s overwhelming bipartisan approval of the Success and Opportunity through Quality Charters Act (H.R. 10) by the full House Education and the Workforce Committee, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers …


NACSA Applauds Alabama Vote to Approve Charter School Legislation

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) congratulates the Alabama General Assembly for passing Senate Bill 45 to become the most recent state to introduce charter schools as high-quality education options …


NACSA Receives National Grant to Strengthen Charter School Quality Nationwide

For more than a decade, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) has led the effort to improve quality within the charter school community by helping authorizers set high standards, facilitate …


National Association of Charter School Authorizers Commends RSD Action to Deny Charter School’s Renewal

Charter schools are about more than just test scores. They also have an obligation to treat all students fairly and appropriately and to spend public money properly. Most charter schools do just …


NACSA Recognizes Step in the Right Direction To Improve Michigan’s Charter School Authorizing

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) recognizes today’s release of a study by the Education Trust—Midwest (ETM) entitled “Accountability for All: The Need for Real Charter School Authorizer Accountability in …


UFT Charter School Gets Improve-or-Close Renewal

This morning, the Charter School Committee of the Board of Trustees of The State University of New York (SUNY), the governing body of the SUNY Charter Schools Institute decided to renew the charter of U.F.T. …


More on Authorizer Accountability in Michigan

Eastern Michigan University’s Charter Schools Office Director Malverne Winborne weighs in on the recent report commissioned by the Michigan State Board of Education comparing the performance of authorizer portfolios across the state. …


Postcard from the Statehouse: Austin, Texas

“Postcard from the Statehouse” will provide occasional updates on the travels of NACSA’s Policy Team as they advocate for strong authorizer policies across the country. Greetings from Texas!  Yesterday, the Senate Education Committee heard …


No Exit?

Imagine if you were in a contractual relationship with a service provider, and the provider told you that you couldn’t end the contract.  A recent case in Florida illustrates why NACSA recommends …


Access is Not Optional

By design, charter schools are supposed to be open to all students. The idea is that rather than gaining admission based on their zip code or test scores, charter school students are …


Septima Clark

Accepting Accountability

It is always disappointing when charter schools that are not meeting their performance expectations fight efforts to hold them accountable. We shouldn’t forget, though, that some charter schools will live up to …


Four Tips for Cage-Busting Authorizers

Rick Hess’s new book, Cage-Busting Leadership is out. Quality charter school authorizing often involves a lot of cage-busting. The vast majority of authorizers work in school districts–systems that are set up in …


Joint–Not-Central–Planning for All DC Public Schools

In the second post of a two-part series, Scott Pearson, Executive Director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board, addresses another big question raised in Emma Brown’s recent article on charter school growth in the nation’s capital: …


Silver Bullets and Unicorns

Silver bullets and unicorns have three important characteristics in common. 1.) They don’t exist; 2) No one older than 16 believes that they exist; and 3) anyone claiming that someone else believes …


School Performance Analysis 2.0

Guest Post from Rob Kimball, Sr. Director of Operations & Policy, Grand Valley State University Charter Schools Office Regardless of the size of an authorizer’s portfolio, a laser-like focus on school performance is critical to …