On average, the funding gap between charter schools and traditional schools is 22 percent, or $1,800 per pupil. The average charter school ends up with a total funding shortfall of nearly half a million dollars.
Source: Charter School Funding: Inequity’s Next Frontier
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Our School: The Inspiring Story of Two Teachers, One Big Idea and the School That Beat the Odds
This book, written by education journalist Joanne Jacobs, is an account of the creation and first years of Downtown College Prep, a charter high school in San Jose, California that was created to prepare underachieving students to succeed at four-year colleges. The book describes the evolution of the school and follows the founders, teachers and students in the early years and then flashes forward to track students after graduation. The closing chapters discuss lessons learned by the founders. The book is available from booksellers and the author's website offers excerpts and brief guidance on how to start a charter school.
A State Policymaker's Guide to Alternative Authorizers of Charter Schools
This document is designed to help state policymakers think through what kind of alternative authorizing structures make sense for their states. It presents the advantages and disadvantages for seven types of alternative authorizers (independent special purpose charter boards; universities and colleges; state boards, commissioners and departments of education; mayors; city councils; nonprofit organizations; and regional educational entities). In addition, the document discusses policy considerations and critical design issues facing states interested in creating alternative authorizers.
Charting a Clear Course
This re-released/reprinted guide is designed to help charter school boards structure stable, productive relationships with school management organizations. It identifies key issues, highlights options, and presents questions to consider in areas such as: understanding the landscape of educational contracting; clearly defining roles and responsibilities; establishing clear guidelines for the contract and relationship; carefully structuring the evaluation of performance; creating a clear understanding regarding the management organization's compensation and the school's financial affairs; and making clear the ownership of physical and intellectual property.
New Leaders for New Schools
The New Leaders for New Schools (NLNS) program is designed to promote high levels of academic achievement by attracting, preparing and supporting outstanding school leaders for the nation’s urban district and charter schools. It has established successful partnerships with public school systems and charter schools in New York City and several other cities and plans to expand to additional urban areas each year. Over the next 10 years, NLNS aims to create a 2,000-person principal corps. The next round of applications is due March 1, 2006. During their first year, New Leaders complete demanding academic study, skill development in leadership, and a full-time paid residency in an urban public school. Once New Leaders complete their first year, they continue to receive two years of coaching and mentoring. For more information, visit http://www.nlns.org/NLWeb/Leader.jsp.
The Answer Key: How to Plan, Develop and Finance Your Charter School Facility
This free guide offers charter school operators step-by-step assistance in planning, evaluating and implementing facilities projects. Helpful worksheets, including needs assessments, budgets, and balance sheets are included. The document offers advice at all key stages of facilities development, from the concept phase through financing the project to completion of construction.
NCSRP Charter School Database
The National Charter School Research Project (NCSRP) Charter School Database offers a rich dataset on charter and public schools in the 40 states and D.C. that allow charter schools. Researchers surveyed state charter school offices on a number of indicators concerning the growth and status of charter schools, including the number of schools and students, demographic information, and school types. The survey was originally conducted for NCSRP's annual report on charter schools, "Hopes, Fears, and Reality: A Balanced Look at Charter Schools in 2004-05." Users can generate state reports and indicator reports, as well as download the complete dataset into an Excel file.
Friendly Competition
Published in the winter issue of the journal Education Next, this article finds that substantial improvements in traditional public school performance are due to the introduction and growth of charter schools. Using student proficiency rates, an aggregate measure of school performance, the researchers found that traditional public schools in North Carolina responded to the competition provided by charter schools by improving their average proficiency rates. The annual changes in performance made by traditional public schools were more positive in schools with charter schools nearby than in schools not facing charter school competition. Researchers did take into account characteristics of the student body, as well as student-teacher ratios.
D.C. Charter Schools: Strengthening Monitoring and Process When Schools Close Could Improve
The General Accounting Office (GAO) is required by Congress to evaluate D.C.'s two charter school authorizers -- the Board of Education (BOE), which has an Office of Charter Schools responsible for oversight, and the independent Public Charter School Board (PCSB). Examining the authorizers' resources, oversight practices, and actions taken once charter schools close, GAO researchers found that the PCSB, with its larger staff and funding, has done a much better job at focusing attention on schools that need the greatest assistance. The PCSB also granted more flexibility to well-managed schools. The BOE failed to regularly review reports from its charter school monitoring staff. The study concludes with a set of recommendations, including that the BOE Office of Charter Schools implement a risk-based oversight system and that the authorizing bodies jointly establish a process to guide their actions after schools close.
Hopes, Fears, & Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charter Schools in 2005
This first annual report on the nation's charter schools, created by the new National Charter School Research Project, finds that the nation's charter schools serve a larger percentage of minority and low-income students than do traditional public schools. Charters remain a predominantly urban phenomenon, the researchers determined, with charter schools three times as likely as regular public schools to be in located in a big city. Researchers found an expanding movement, but one where growth is concentrated in only seven states, with much of the nation maintaining strict limits on charter schools. The document offers a series of essays exploring charter school student achievement, bringing charters to scale, charter school closures, charter schools and NCLB, apples-to-apples comparisons, and an examination of the challenges facing a maturing reform movement.
2006 National Charter Schools Conference
U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is now scheduled to participate live, via satellite, on March 2 at the 2006 National Charter Schools Conference (to be held February 28 - March 3, 2006 in Sacramento, CA).* In a conversation with John Merrow (host of PBS' Learning Matters), she will discuss the impact of what is happening in New Orleans on the overall charter school movement. Other featured speakers include Bill Nye the Science Guy and a host of national charter experts and advocates who will share their perspectives on the state of the charter movement. View programming (over 170 sessions and table-talk discussions to choose from) and speaker details, as well as register and make hotel reservations at the conference web site at http://www.charterconference.org. To register by phone, call 800-280-6218. *Participation subject to Senator Landrieu's schedule.
ECS State Policies for Charter Schools Database
The Education Commission of the States has updated its charter schools state policies database. Data is available on school/student preferences, caps, authorizers/sponsors, appeals processes, funding, start-up grants, facilities funding and assistance, waivers, teacher certification, and collective bargaining agreements. Users can generate profiles of the state policies for charter schools in individual states, create comparisons of specific types of state policies for charter schools across several states and view predetermined reports on state policies for charter schools.
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