NACSA Blog

NACSA Blog

Press Releases


NACSA Selects Third Cohort for Leaders Program

The success of the charter school sector depends on having strong authorizers capable of managing a portfolio of high-performing schools and ensuring that every charter school provides an outstanding education to its …


Strong Authorizing Practices Produced Better Schools for 230,000 Students in 2013

More than 230,000 students are attending better schools in 2013 because of the actions of charter school authorizers across the country, according to the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA). Authorizers …


National Association of Charter School Authorizers and the Charter School Growth Fund release recommendatons for successful replication of high-performing charter schools

State policies must change to differentiate and grow high-performing charter schools and weed out the low performers according to a report released today by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) …


NACSA Calls on Nation’s Charter School Authorizers to Act Now to Maintain Accountability

In a statement released today, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) cautioned that while the upcoming shift to Common Core standards provides a long-term opportunity to improve the nation’s schools, it …


NACSA releases recommendations on accountability measures for alternative charter schools

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) today released Anecdotes Aren’t Enough: An Evidence-Based Approach to Accountability for Alternative Charter Schools, a report that sets out recommendations for appropriate accountability systems …


Charter School Authorizers Must Rebalance Accountability, Flexibility, and Support During the Pandemic

This guest blog was written by Miho Kubagawa, a Partner with New Schools Venture Fund. When schools closed in March, I naively assumed that the biggest challenge public schools would face this …


Message to the Charter School Authorizing Community from Karega Rausch, Interim President & CEO

To the Authorizing Community: Like so many of you it has taken me some time to process a range of emotions after seeing Black people being murdered, most visibly George Floyd and …


Authorizer Conversations: Joseph Escobedo on Virtual Site Visits and the Human Side of Authorizing

“When we talk about the human side, that was something I was not expecting. I was not expecting that I would need to provide emotional support to our charter leaders or that …


Supporting ELs, Students with Special Needs, and Student Mental Health During Distance Learning: Lessons from Minnesota

Guest post by Krista Kaput, Research Director, EdAllies Minnesota—along with 47 other states—has closed its school buildings for the remainder of the school year, elevating the importance of strong, equitable distance learning …


Educating Students with Disabilities During COVID-19: Civil Rights Endure and Authorizers Must Lead

By Wendy Tucker, Senior Director of Policy, National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools A crisis is not the time to roll back civil rights. It’s the time to roll up …


Tips for Virtual Capacity Interviews

Capacity interviews are a critical component of the new school application review processes. These interviews can provide crucial opportunities to secure information to address or confirm deficiencies in written applications, enable authorizers …


Authorizer Conversations: David Frank on the Sprints, Strolls, and Marathon of Authorizing Through a Pandemic

“The preponderance of questions that schools are asking are about students with disabilities, and how we transition to this new environment to serve them well – that is at the forefront of …


A Blueprint for Back to School: Additional Thoughts for Authorizers

On May 4th, the American Enterprise Institute, in collaboration with over 20 education leaders including NACSA’s acting President and CEO Karega Rausch, published A Blueprint for Back to School. Recognizing how vital, …


An Authorizer’s Role in Supporting Remote Learning

A Note from NACSA: Today’s guest blog comes from Ryan Marks, Director of Evaluation and Assessment at the Colorado Charter Schools Institute (CSI), an independent charter school board that oversees 39 schools …


Upholding Open Meetings Law in a Virtual World

During times of crisis, it is more important than ever that charter school boards continue regular meetings to review materials on educational continuity, finance, and operations, and to vote on action items …