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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Improving Charter School Leadership
As the number of students attending public charter schools continues to rise, state leaders have a growing interest in ensuring that the public charter school sector is well-equipped to meet the goals of improving student achievement. A new report says governors and states should support university-based leadership-training programs and nontraditional organizations that focus on developing public charter school leaders. The report from the National Governors Association's Center for Best Practices with the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities examines the recruitment and training of public charter school leaders and board members, as well as the issues they face in getting the skills needed to run public charters.
Charter School Executives: Toward a New Generation of Leadership
With the number of public charter schools predicted to significantly increase in the coming decade, a new report by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools recommends a series of measures to recruit and prepare the next generation of leadership in two approaches. The report recommends expanding current ways for schools and networks to “grow their own” and establishing a national credential for executive management.
Financial Incentives for Hard-to-Staff Positions: Cross-Sector Lessons for Public Education
The widespread use of financial incentives (such as loan repayment programs, bonus and salary supplements, and performance-based incentives) in other industries underscores the need for education leaders to consider parallel solutions to staffing shortages and severe inequities of talent. This document provides cross-sector research on using a portfolio of financial incentives to recruit and retain teachers in hard-to-staff positions and potential implications of this approach.
How Charter Schools Can Survive the Financial Crisis
On November 12, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools offered a free webcast for those working across the public charter school landscape to better understand potential financial challenges and begin to form strategic business responses. The panel made a series of
observations about what public charter school operators can expect in the near term. These include: funding delays in reaching schools as a result of the credit crunch; and, reduced philanthropic funding; less funding from commercial banks. Several recommendations to survive the financial crisis were offered, including: check the stability of your commercial bank, diversify and re-allocate funds to conservative investments; and focus on maintaining liquidity and securing a cash reserve.
Value-Added and Experimental Studies of the Effect of Charter Schools on Student Achievement: A Literature Review
This paper provides a review of 13 public charter school studies that utilize the research methods of randomization based on lotteries or value-added modeling (taking into account a student’s past achievement). The researchers find ample evidence that public charters outperform traditional public schools in some areas, and, to a slightly lesser degree, that public charter schools underperform in other areas. Elementary public charter schools seem to be producing better gains in reading achievement than traditional public schools. Similarly, public charter middle schools often outperform in math. Conversely, public charter high schools seem to lag behind traditional public schools, especially in math. The researchers find that the overall evidence suggests that public charter schools more typically outperform than underperform their traditional public school counterparts.
Hopes, Fears, & Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charter Schools in 2008
This annual report published by the National Charter School Research Project offers new evidence and analysis about the state of the nation's public charter schools. In five essays, the report explores how well charters are doing, where they need to improve, and what can be learned from current research. One chapter finds that there is strong evidence that charter schools are outperforming other public schools in many ways, but warn that only about a third of all public charter studies can be trusted to be accurate. Another chapter finds that public charter schools are more likely than other public schools to focus their educational designs on specific missions and populations, adapt their school day and year to meet the needs of their students, customize
their programs to help struggling students, and bring college-prep courses to urban
students. But even within the charter sector, the researchers find great diversity in approach and specialization.
Study of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Charter Schools in Indiana
As of fall 2008, 49 public charter schools are operating in Indiana. This evaluation examines the successes and challenges of the state's public charter schools. The researchers find that charter enrollment is increasing at a relatively constant rate compared to their local school district and the state of Indiana as a whole. The state's public charter schools appear to serve a similar or higher percentage of minority and low-income students compared to other public schools, but do not serve a proportionate number of special needs children. The researchers find little difference between student performance in public charter schools and traditional public
schools.
National Charter School Conference, Washington, DC, June 21-24
The National Charter Schools Conference, the only national gathering of the entire public charter school community, offers opportunities to hear from new administration, education policy and movement leaders, to learn new ways to reach students and improve academic achievement, and to network with public charter school professionals from across the nation. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will present a keynote address at the opening general session on Monday, June 22. DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee and New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein are confirmed speakers. Pre-Conference Workshops include the National Charter Schools Teachers Institute, School Board Boot Camp, and How to Become a Green Charter School. June 24 is Advocacy Day. More information available at the conference's website.
California Charter Schools Conference, March 10-12
The 16th Annual California Charter Schools Conference will be held March 10-13, 2009 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California. The theme of this year's conference is "Quality Charter Schools Strengthen Communities." In addition to keynote speakers, student performances, networking events, more than 150 breakout sessions will be offered. For questions and more information about the conference, e-mail charterconf@continue.uoregon.edu or call 1-800-280-6218.
The Big U-Turn: How to Bring Schools from the Brink of Doom to Stellar Success
This article explains how turnarounds work across sectors and the implications for turnarounds in schools. Illustrating their findings with key examples from private and public sector successes, the authors provide six essential leader actions and the elements of an environment conducive to turnarounds. These include: focus on a few early wins; break organizational norms; push rapid-fire experimentation; get the right staff, right the remainder; drive decisions with open air data; lead a turnaround campaign.
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