We develop and implement accurate, meaningful measures of school quality.
Public Impact supports access to high-quality schools for all students, especially low-income students, students of color, and other students whose needs historically have not been well met. Our work focuses on ensuring that schools and the communities they serve have access to accurate and meaningful measures of school quality and includes:
- Developing a “needs index” to accurately measure differences in student needs across schools, to help identify the schools having success with the highest-needs students.
- Testing and developing accountability measures and frameworks for charter school authorizers in over 15 states.
- Working with the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) to develop, test, and collect measures of authorizer portfolio quality.
- Developing guidance for charter school authorizers as they set clear and rigorous academic standards. Our guidance is now included in NACSA’s Core Performance Framework and Guidance.
- Providing academic appraisal reports to charter school facilities lenders.
- Conducting data analyses for charter management organizations to highlight successes and identify areas for development.
FEATURED REPORT
Identifying Schools Achieving Great Results with Highest-Need Students
This working paper, created with Education Analytics for the National Campaign for Highest-Need Students, explains a methodology for measuring the extent of support that students need to thrive academically, and how to apply the resulting School Needs Index. The index is a crucial first step toward identifying the schools achieving the greatest success with highest-need students, making it possible to share their practices.