The Thornton School’s Midori Goto presents student violinists, who perform works by Bach to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
February 14
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Who's Taking Responsibility for Charter Schools?
Friday, February 26, 2010 : 10:00am to 11:30am
Cannon House Office Building
121
Washington, DC 20515
Free
Learn about current problems and best practices in charter school authorizing, and how federal policies can strengthen the quality and performance of charters.
President Obama has said he supports increasing quality charter schools nationally, but who decides which ones are good and which ones are not?
Charter school authorizers are the gatekeepers of quality, with the responsibility to decide which charter schools are approved, how they will be monitored and overseen, and which schools will be renewed or revoked. However, state policies vary on which organizations can serve as authorizers — these range from local school boards and state departments of education to special authorizing boards and public universities.
Research has emerged showing that states featuring multiple authorizers tend to have more, higher quality charter schools. The same studies argue that the existence of multiple authorizing bodies helps to insulate authorizing from any one particular political influence. Still more needs to be done to share best practices amongst authorizers, and to provide guidance for those states in the process of revising their existing charter school legislation or creating new legislation in response to President Obama’s charge.
The model charter law developed by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools calls for states to provide each applicant at least two viable routes to obtaining a charter, and stresses transparency about the performance of each authorizer’s portfolio of schools. Although each state determines who can authorize and how (or whether) authorizers are held accountable, there is growing federal interest in this work. The Race to the Top competition scores points for strong authorizing, and the forthcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act might include new incentives for authorizers to do a conscientious job of approval, oversight and renewal.
This discussion will be led by Dr. Priscilla Wohlstetter, a renowned researcher in charter school governance, along with nationally recognized charter school experts Nelson Smith, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; Jonas S. Chartock, executive director of the SUNY Charter Schools Institute; and Nina Gilbert, founder and director of the Ivy Preparatory Academy.