NACSA Blog

NACSA Blog

Press Releases


National Association of Charter School Authorizers Appoints Education Leaders to National Advisory Board

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) is pleased to announce the appointment of seven distinguished professionals to its National Advisory Board. The 23- member board is comprised of leaders from …


National Survey Shows Charter School Closure Rates Dropped in 2010-2011 School Year

January 30, 2012 (Chicago, Ill.) – A report released today by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) indicates charter school closures have declined over the past three years. These findings …


NACSA Hails Congressional Action to Strengthen Charter School Authorizing

In adopting the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010, Congress recognizes for the first time the important role charter school authorizers play in determining charter school quality, winning it praise from the National …


NACSA Announces 2009 Awards for Excellence

The NACSA Awards for Excellence program celebrates individuals and organizations that advance the authorizing profession in three fields: • Advancing Knowledge, • Improving Policy, and • Improving Practice. NACSA announced the 2009 …


The Fund for Authorizing Excellence

NACSA established The Fund for Authorizing Excellence (The Fund) earlier this year to provide direct support to NACSA members who are working to create charter environments that foster schools with high student …


KIPP Impact: “Statistically significant, and educationally substantial”

Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan research firm, has released a new study of KIPP middle schools. The study, funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, found that “The average impact of KIPP on student achievement is …


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 …