Rethinking your new charter school application process might not be the first step you consider as you strive to ensure students have access to great schools that meet their needs and aspirations.
But it’s true. We need more excellent schools, with more flexible ways of organizing teaching and learning, led by a more diverse group of people. Strong accountability systems are known to improve student outcomes. By improving the application process—and ensuring that strong accountability systems are part of school design from the start—we ensure that more great schools open and that they are prepared to meet the needs of all students.
Over several months, NACSA conducted interviews, focus groups, data analysis, and research. We prioritized the voices and perspectives of historically under-resourced communities. Those conversations resulted in these recommendations, which NACSA will use to create tools and resources for authorizers.
Double down on known quality authorizing practices
- Cultivate quality schools that meet community aspirations and needs.
- Provide clear guidance and requirements on the application content, format, and process as well as clear and transparent evaluation criteria.
- Rigorously conduct due diligence on applicants.
- Engage evaluators with diverse and relevant experience.
- Provide quality actionable feedback to applicants.
Shift rigor from paper to people
- Engage in a more through process of assessing the capacity of the proposed founding team to achieve great outcomes for students.
- Shorten the written application.
Align the application process to how new charter schools actually develop
- Rethink what information is needed at what stage of the application process and consider multi-phased approvals.
- Use the time applicants spend developing their school as part of the application process.
- Make better use of a more hands-on ready-to-open process.
Create innovation portfolios
- Designate a portion of authorized schools (e.g., 10-20% of schools) to focus on dramatically different approaches to teaching and learning, with rigorous yet different expected student and school outcomes.
- Lean into pilot programs or other small learning communities as a means to explore innovation on a small scale and grow (as appropriate) when success is evident.
Collaborate and communicate: authorizers, charter support organizations, CMOs, incubators, and community
- Support school developers in accessing information, support, and resources.
- Proactively seek out potential charter operators (from both inside and outside the K-12 education sector).
Evolve definitions of school quality
- Continue to emphasize strong literacy and numeracy while expanding how we define a great education.
- Require applicants to tell a more comprehensive story about their mission and purpose and what strong outcomes look like.
Change who authorizes in some contexts
- In places that are too bureaucratic and refuse to change (or in places with hostile authorizers), new authorizers, with quality provisions, may be needed.
- Consider state policy to encourage or require authorizers lacking the expertise, desire, or capacity to exit the profession.
Better assess need and demand
- Explore new ways of assessing need and demand.
- Utilize a broader body of need and demand evidence and consider the appropriate timing of the evidence.
Rethinking your new charter school application process might not be the first step you consider as you strive to ensure students have access to great schools that meet their needs and aspirations.
For more information contact David Greenberg: [email protected]