Whitney Spalding Spencer

Director of Authorizer Development

Whitney Spalding Spencer is Director of Authorizer Development at NACSA. She is responsible for managing NACSA’s federal Charter Schools Program National Activities Grant work focused on identifying and disseminating authorizer best practices in charter school performance management, replication, and closure. Whitney previously served as the Director of Recruitment and Selection at the Chicago Public Schools Office of New Schools where she oversaw the recruitment and authorization of new charter and contract schools for the nation’s third largest school district. Whitney earned her A.B. in English from Princeton University.

Most Recent Posts

NACSA Supports Three Federal Bills to Modernize CSP and Help Strengthen Authorizing

The U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program (CSP) has supported the growth of the charter school sector for more than 30 years. Despite significant changes in the charter sector—especially...

NACSA Supports Federal Bills to Strengthen Charter School Facilities and Oversight

NACSA is pleased to support H.R. 7086, the Equitable Access to School Facilities Act, and H.R. 7082, the Fostering Learning and Excellence in Charter Schools (FLEX) Act, two bills that...

Research on School Closure Messaging: What Works

Five years ago, I was the COO at a charter school, and something was becoming increasingly obvious: we consistently did not have enough students enrolling to fill all our seats....