NACSA Blog

NACSA Blog

Press Releases


National Association of Charter School Authorizers Elects Leaders

James N. Goenner, Executive Director of Central Michigan University’s Center for Charter Schools, was elected last week to serve as Vice Chair of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA). NACSA …


Charter Schools Perform when District & Political Backing is Evident

Chicago — Charter school performance varies considerably across the nation, as indicated by today’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data, but the independent public schools outperform traditional schools when political and …


Texas-sized Improvements

NACSA’s One Million Lives campaign emphasizes growth and accountability:  we need both if we are to provide one million children with a better education. In a huge victory, the Texas legislature passed …


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 …