NACSA Blog

NACSA Blog

Press Releases


Indiana Receives Top Marks in Charter School Policy Report, Leads Nation with Smart Laws Focused on Quality and Oversight

For the first time, Indiana’s strong charter school laws earned a perfect score in a national ranking of charter school policies out today from the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA). …

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Arizona Charter School Reforms Recognized in National Charter School Policy Analysis

New accountability and oversight provisions demonstrate state’s shift to quality charter schools Strong charter school provisions enacted by the Arizona legislature last year lead to huge gains on a national ranking of …

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New Connecticut Charter School Reforms Recognized in National Charter School Policy Analysis

New accountability and oversight provisions bring Connecticut’s charter school law up-to-date Strong charter school oversight provisions enacted by the Connecticut legislature last year lead to huge gains on a national ranking of …

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Georgia Charter School Reforms Lauded in National Charter School Policy Analysis

Report lauds Georgia’s reforms to strengthen charter school oversight and encourages adoption of additional recommendations being put forth by the Georgia Education Reform Commission Strong charter school oversight provisions enacted by the …

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NACSA President Calls on US Senate to Support the Every Student Succeeds Act

Tomorrow, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) will come before the US Senate for a floor vote.  The current legislative proposal, which is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act …


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 …


The Tide Rises in Washington D.C.

Scott Pearson, Executive Director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board, has a new two-part blog post up about the questions raised in Emma Brown’s recent article on charter school growth in the …


Standards and Accountability for Charter School Authorizers

Today, the Detroit Free Press covers an important new report submitted to the Michigan Board of Education. The report ranks, for the first time, the state’s 11 largest authorizers “based on student achievement, student growth over time, authorizer improvement …


Low-Performing Charter Schools Fight Closure in Indiana

Last month, the charter schools office at Ball State University announced that it was revoking the charters of seven of its lowest performing schools for failure to meet the performance expectations outlined …