Federal Grant to Improve Charter School Quality

NACSA-Led Team Hopes to Impact All of Public Education

CHICAGO, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) has won federal support to improve the ability of charter school authorizers to measure the performance of the schools they oversee, close low-performing charter schools and replicate high-performing ones. The support comes in an initial investment of $834,670 for fiscal year 2010 from the U.S. Department of Education, with anticipation of continued funding for two additional years. NACSA will partner with the Aspen Institute's Commission on No Child Left Behind, the Council of Chief State School Officers and Bellwether Education Partners in carrying out the grant project.

"This grant empowers NACSA to aggressively improve on charter education in America," said NACSA President and CEO Greg Richmond.  "Our team will address the paradox confounding charter education quality, namely existing excellent charters can't open new schools while too many failing charters stay open year after year."

The goal of NACSA's "Project Management, Replication and Closure" (PMRC) project is to increase the number of states and charter school authorizers with replication and closure policies driven by a comprehensive and integrated research-based school performance management model.

"Together with our partners, the Aspen Institute, the Council of Chief State School Officers and Bellwether Education Services, we will execute a project with national impact," continued Richmond.  "Our organizations will work with public officials and leaders with broader public education responsibilities.  I expect the lessons of our project will extend far beyond the charter school sector to provide benefits for all of public education."

Gary Huggins, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute's Commission on No Child Left Behind, has this comment about the grant: "We are excited about the potential for this project to advance an emerging consensus on the common characteristics of successful schools by improving the ability of authorizers as well as school and system leaders to instill those elements where they are lacking.  We also believe lessons learned in this effort will be important in informing how to most effectively address school improvement in the coming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)."

The Executive Director of the Council of Chief State School Officers Gene Wilhoit said "Leaders are looking for effective strategies to increase the number of high-quality schools available to students in a community, by closing underperforming schools and replacing them with new schools based on proven models.  The PMRC project holds the promise of providing just such a strategy."

Andrew Rotherham, co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education, noted, "The charter sector leads the nation in developing new strategies of performance management, replication and closure.  With this grant from the Department of Education, NACSA and its partners will be able to transfer these innovations across both the larger charter school universe and the traditional public school sector."

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers is the trusted resource and innovative leader working with public officials and education leaders to increase the number of high-quality charter schools in cities and states across the nation. NACSA provides training, consulting, and policy guidance to authorizers and education leaders interested in increasing the number of high-quality schools and improving student outcomes. www.qualitycharters.org

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. CCSSO provides leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance on major educational issues. The Council seeks member consensus on major educational issues and expresses their views to civic and professional organizations, federal agencies, Congress, and the public. www.ccsso.org

The Aspen Institute's Commission on No Child Left Behind is a bipartisan effort to identify and build support for improvements in federal education policy to spur academic achievement and close persistent achievement gaps.  Following a comprehensive review process with extensive public input, the Commission in 2007 released a blueprint for improving the landmark No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) by making needed changes to accelerate progress toward achieving its goals, particularly in the areas of teacher and principal effectiveness, robust accountability and data, higher academic standards, stronger high schools, and increased options for students. The Commission continues to advocate bold reform during the ESEA reauthorization process and consideration of related measures in pursuit of an excellent education for all children.  www.nclbcommission.org

Bellwether Education Partners is a national non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the achievement of low-income students by cultivating, advising, and placing a robust community of innovative, effective, and sustainable change agents in public education reform and improving the policy climate for their work. www.bellwethereducation.org

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Greg Richmond

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SOURCE National Association of Charter School Authorizers