NACSA Blog

NACSA Blog

Press Releases


NACSA President Calls on US House of Representatives to Support the Every Student Succeeds Act

This week, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) will come before the US House of Representatives for a floor vote.  The current legislative proposal, which is a reauthorization of the Elementary and …


NACSA Disappointed in Washington State Supreme Court Decision

Yesterday, the Washington Supreme Court ruled it will not reconsider its earlier decision that invalidates the state’s charter school law. In response, Greg Richmond, president and CEO of the National Association of …


NACSA Comments on Congress’s Progress on Long-Stalled Education Policy Rewrite

Last week, our nation’s lawmakers announced that they have developed a framework for moving forward on a long-stalled rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In response, Greg Richmond, president and CEO …


NACSA urges Authorizers and Policymakers to take action on Virtual Schools given CREDO Report

Authorizers need to consider credible evidence when considering online charter schools in their community. This week, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) released a ground-breaking report on virtual schools which found …


NACSA responds to the Center for Media and Democracy’s Report “Charter School Black Hole”

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) is a non-profit, professional organization that has worked with states, school districts and other authorizers to strengthen charter school oversight across the country for …


How much progress is enough?

Earlier this week my friend Checker Finn wrote a short, barbed blog saying in effect that charter folks shouldn’t brag too hard about outperforming dismal neighborhood schools when so many of our …


Action in the Statehouses: Part 2

Session deadlines keep coming and bills keep moving.  Monday night in Nevada the Senate unanimously passed AB 205, a comprehensive authorizing bill that institutes performance-based contracts, performance frameworks for each charter school, …


What’s in a Name? Authorizing vs. Sponsorship

Charter schools may look different from state to state, but one common denominator is that each charter school has an entity that is charged with defining school autonomies and holding the school …


NACSA Applauds Indiana Move to Strengthen Charter Law to Ensure Quality

Greg Richmond, president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, today issued the following statement regarding Governor Michael Pence’s signature of revision to Indiana’s charter school law: “Yesterday, Governor …


Action in the Statehouses

This past week has been a whirlwind in statehouses across the country, as the pace of legislative proposals picked up in the face of end-of-session deadlines. Over a dozen states are considering …


Standing Up for Quality

Speaking of creating an ecosystem for charter school accountability, here is Bill Phillips, president of the Northeast Charter School Network (NECSN) with a call for clear quality standards for charter school renewal …


Creating an Ecosystem for Accountability

Last month, the US Department of Education and the National Charter School Resource Center hosted an Accountability Summit to explore emerging accountability challenges across the charter school sector and to discuss a variety of …


Evidence to the Contrary

Today the Center for Education Reform published a report labeling the move toward independent, statewide authorizing commissions as a “dangerous trend.”  Our conclusion based on research and experience couldn’t be more different.  …


Stronger Still

Last week in New Orleans, NACSA wrestled with issues of standardization and differentiation in the charter school sector. We held our annual joint meeting of our Board of Directors and National Advisory …


Redefining the School District, Tennessee-style

American public education has overcome all sorts of roadblocks in its illustrious history — but in facing the problem of persistently failing schools, our traditional systems have hit a wall. Even when given some powerful turnaround …