Public Impact

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Charter School Authorizing

Beyond the Fringe: Charter Authorizing as Enrollment Grows

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In this report with the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, Public Impact presents a framework for considering the issues that arise as charter enrollment grows in a city and how those issues affect students’ access to great schools. The report then examines how two top authorizers—District of Columbia Public Charter School Board and Denver Public Schools—have responded to some of those issues, and draws lessons from those examples for other authorizers.

School Restart Authorization Process Guide

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Restart cover thumbnailAuthorizers and support organizations can use the School Restart Authorization Process Guide and related database to increase the success and sustainability of restart interventions in low-performing schools, with step-by-step guidance for designing or refining the restart process. The guide’s recommendations are based on the experiences of authorizers, school operators, education support organizations, and community leaders with experience in restarts nationwide. The process guide is complemented by the Restart Authorizer Resource database, with searchable tools and resources collected from authorizers and support organizations. These resources offer practical examples of the materials that support each step of the restart process. The restart process guide and authorizer resources are available at www.schoolrestarts.org.

Authorizer Shopping: Lessons from Experience and Ideas for the Future

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Auth Shopping cover thumbnailAs charter school authorizers and states have increased performance expectations and grown less hesitant to close failing schools, “authorizer shopping” has emerged as a growing threat to overall charter school quality. Authorizer shopping happens when a charter school chooses or changes its authorizer specifically to avoid accountability. A low-performing school may shop for a new authorizer to avoid closure, or reopen under a new authorizer after closure. This report considers five examples of authorizer shopping in action and provides specific guidance to authorizers, policymakers, and advocates to address authorizer shopping.

Indiana Charter School Board 2012-2013 Annual Report

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ICSB AR cover thumbnail

The Indiana Charter School Board (ICSB) released its first annual report on March 20, 2014, highlighting the ICSB’s five-year strategic plan, focus on innovation, processes for applicant evaluation and accountability, and school performance. The annual report includes a history of the ICSB, an overview of the Indiana charter landscape, and biographies of current and former board members and staff. It also provides detailed “Authorized School Reports” for all of the ICSB’s authorized schools.

 

Virtual Schools: Assessing Progress and Accountability

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Virtual Schools thumbnailAll schools present significant challenges for states and other entities charged with holding them accountable for their effects on student learning outcomes. However, virtual schools—full-time schools that provide most, if not all, instruction online—raise unique challenges and opportunities for accountability. This report, written for the National Charter School Resource Center, presents five recommendations, with multiple means to implement each, for facing the challenges of adequately assessing virtual schools.

Replicating Quality: Policy Recommendations to Support the Replication and Growth of High-Performing Charter Schools and Networks

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Relicating Quality cover imageCould adoption of judicious policies and practices in the charter sector create a million more excellent opportunities for students over the next decade?  This report, prepared by Public Impact for the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and the Charter School Growth Fund, makes recommendations that legislators, authorizers, and state education agencies can use to build a policy environment that will substantially increase the prevalence and impact of high-quality charter schools.  The recommendations support four strategies to promote quality in the sector: differentiating charter operators based on performance, building system capacity to cultivate and support high-performing schools and networks, facilitating replication of high performers and accelerating closure of low performers.

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