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: School Charters
: Accountability
: Assessment
: Authorizers
: Budget

: Facilities
: Family/Community Involvement
: Governance
: Management

School Charters:

Charter School Accountability Tool Kit, 4th Edition. ( 2000, Charter Schools Development Center ) Created primarily for California charter school developers and authorizers, this extensive tool kit provides sample documents from charter and other schools nationwide. Documents include a sample charter and Memorandum of Understanding (a.k.a. Annual Operating Agreement), student performance materials, governance, legal, and financial documents, annual reports, and renewal documents.

Charter School Governance Toolkit. ( 1999, Charter Schools Development Center ) This 300+ page technical assistance guide offers a wide range of sample materials showing how to establish clear and grounded charter school governance structures. These materials were compiled from actual samples shared by existing California charter schools. Some of the resources include: sample articles of incorporation and bylaws; strategic and business plans; school performance accountability documents; and, resources regarding effective boardsmanship.

Creating an Effective Charter School Governing Board (Summary). ( 2000, Charter Friends National Network ) This summarizes a resource guide offering strategies for meeting the numerous critical challenges that charter school governing boards must meet to build and maintain effective charter school boards. Access the full guide in HTML here. Many online tools, including sample policy statements, self-assessment questionnaires, and sample evaluation forms are available, as are directions for accessing additional resources.

Florida Charter School Application. This application, available on-line, covers academic design; governance and management; finance and facilities; operation; and final documentation.

Governance and Management, Charter Starters Workbook. ( NWREL ) Offering numerous tools, sample documents and other resources on governance and management, this workbook addresses common charter school start-up issues.

How Community-Based Organizations Can Start Charter Schools. ( 2001, September, Charter Friends National Network ) The emergence of the public charter school movement has contributed new energy and vitality to the emphasis on school-community collaboration. A growing number of charter schools are being designed, launched and operated by community-based nonprofit organizations. This guide addresses creating and sustaining a healthy relationship between a new charter school and a founding nonprofit, leading to the creation and operation of a highly successful school. The guide draws on the latest thinking about building effective partnerships and alliances. It also relies heavily on interviews with the leaders of 15 charter schools founded by pre-existing nonprofits, the leaders of several state charter school support organizations, and representatives of some of the national nonprofits that are actively supporting charter school start-ups by their local affiliates. Several sample documents are included. The document is sponsored by the Charter Friends National Network and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Illinois Charter School Developer's Handbook: Getting Your Charter School Off the Ground. ( Leadership for Quality Education ) While this guide was developed for Illinois' charter schools, charter school leaders in other communities will find that this resource offers practical, valuable advice for the phases of planning, designing, and operating a charter school. Important guiding principles and tips for several areas are provided, including: drafting a charter proposal, gaining community support, developing an educational program and accountability standards, recruiting and enrolling students, designing a school governance structure, recruiting and selecting staff, making personnel policies and contracts, fundraising and budgeting, finding and financing facilities, and complying with laws that apply to charter schools.

Illinois Charter School Developers' Handbook: A Resource Guide for Getting Your Charter School Off the Ground. This handbook, published by Leadership for Quality Education, provides potential charter school developers with practical advice for the essential phases of planning, designing, and operating a charter school. Guiding principles and tips for the following are included: drafting a charter proposal; gaining community support; developing an educational program and accountability standards; recruiting and enrolling students; designing a school governance structure; recruiting and selecting staff; making personnel policies and contracts; fundraising and budgeting; finding and financing facilities; and complying with laws that apply to charter schools. While the document was crafted for developers in Illinois, charter founders in other states will find the advice valuable.

Massachusetts Charter School Handbook. ( 1998, Pioneer Institute ) Though written for a Massachusetts audience, this handbook contains a wealth of practical information and suggestions for charter developers anywhere. Its appendices include numerous sample documents both for schools and authorizers, covering various legal issues, governance bylaws, school and personnel policies, accountability, facilities development, and facility financing.

New York Charter School Application. ( New York Charter School Resource Center ) The New York CSRC has posted a copy of the 1998 NY charter school law (Senate Bill # 7881) and a sample of what a charter school application might look like under the new law.

Policy Sampler. ( 2000, National Center for Nonprofit Boards ) This technical assistance package contains a diskette with over 70 policies covering critical areas such as conflict of interest, grievances, sexual harassment, nepotism, confidentiality and more.

School Charter: Bowling Green Charter School. This document is a charter from an elementary school in Sacramento, California, that "converted" to charter status in 1993.

School Charter: Brooklawn Academy. This document is a charter from a middle school in Fairfield, Connecticut that opened in 1998.

School Charter: Cheyenne Mountain Academy. This document is a charter from a K-8 school in Colorado that started "from scratch."

School Charter: Dodge City Academy. This document is a charter from an alternative middle grade charter school.

School-District Contract. Developed by the Jefferson County School District in Colorado, this school contract contains over 20 pages of detailed provisions addressing a variety of legal, financial, and operational matters between the district and charter schools.

School-District Fiscal Memorandum of Understanding. This MOU between a charter school and school district is provided by the California Charter Schools Development Center. It outlines the specific funding sources anticipated to be available to the school, the terms under which the district will claim funding entitlements on behalf of the school, and how the district will make such funding available.

Accountability:

Complete Toolkit for Boards. ( 1999, Management Assistance Program for Nonprofits ) This extensive website is loaded with sample documents (Charter/Constitution/Articles, Operating Rules, Policies, etc). It also provides information about important board topics such as board roles and responsibilities, staffing the board, and ensuring successful meetings.

National Charter Schools Week, April 30-May 4. From April 30 - May 4, charter advocates, parents, teachers and students from across the country will celebrate the role high-performing charter schools play in opening doors to hope and opportunity for families. With the theme of "Closing the Gap," the 8th annual National Charter Schools Week will highlight how charter schools are making meaningful gains for disadvantaged children. To assist the charter school community in planning, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has developed a toolkit. The toolkit offers a wealth of resources for helping make the week a success, including suggested engagement activities and talking points for speaking with a variety of audiences. It also provides several templates, including a sample press release, a sample school fact sheet, and a sample legislative letter.

North Carolina Charter School Renewal Rubric. ( 2001, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction ) In 2001, North Carolina's Department of Public Instruction adopted a new charter renewal rubric. Requirements for renewal include satisfaction of the state accountability program and compliance in the areas of finance, governance, exceptional children and enrollment. The updated renewal process has several new changes including: schools must be acceptable in all the above categories to receive renewal; renewals are for 5 years; and cited deficiencies in any area require the development and implementation of an correction plan that results in satisfactory improvement. For more information, contact the Department's Office of Charter Schools, at (919) 807-3490.

Outline for a Charter School Annual Report. ( DC Public Charter Schools Board ) This outline guides users in how to craft a description of a school, provide details on student performance, and create an audit report.

Site Visit Team Leader Guide. ( Colorado League of Charter Schools ) In the Site Visitors Team Leader Guide, the Colorado League of Charter Schools assists volunteers in reporting the findings of their school site visits. This brief document guides site visitors in how to record their observations and how to craft both commendations and recommendations.

Assessment:

Alternative Assessment Guide. ( Clear View Charter Elementary School ) This school in Chula Vista, California has published an alternative assessment guide explaining how it developed a broad-based holistic assessment package. For information on how to receive a copy of this guide, contact the school at (619) 498-3000 or visit their web site.

Board Tune-ups. ( Independent Schools Association of the Central States ) The board plays an essential role in governing the charter school. Because so much is riding on the effectiveness of the board in carrying out its roles and responsibilities, it is important that the board spends time looking at its own performance in order to improve it. This is a collection of 13 assessment tools for the periodic tune-up of your charter school board.

Graduation Portfolios. ( 1997 ) In New York City, Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS) pioneered the concept of requiring prospective graduates to develop cumulative portfolios and present them in a series of exhibitions to a "graduation committee" which assess their skills and graduation readiness according to staff and student-developed rubrics. Several other high schools, including Fenway Middle College High School in Boston, MA, have developed similar systems. To find out more about Fenway's work, contact Jennifer London at the Center for Collaborative Education, 617.242.7730.

Parent Involvement Inventory. ( The North Central Regional Educational Lab ) This inventory assists schools in developing strategies to increase parent, family, and community involvement. The inventory is comprehensive and can be used to determine differences of opinion or different levels of knowledge among parents, and school staff.

Authorizers:
Documents for authorizers on topics ranging from evaluating applications, to accountability and oversight can be found in a separate Document Library for Charter Authorizers.

Budget:

Sample Annual Operating Budget. ( 1997 ) This budget, developed by school designer Wayne Jennings, reflects the school's vision with its emphasis on technology, staff development, and a rich adult-to-student staffing ratio. Explanatory text at the beginning of the document highlights how this budget reflects the school's design principles and how it differs from traditional school budgets.

Facilities:

Sample Charter School Lease. This lease agreement between the Sonoma Valley Unified School District (Sonoma Valley, CA) and the Sonoma Charter School illustrates how a school district and a charter school may cooperate on facilities matters. The district leases the school, formerly a closed district site, for $1 per year to the charter school.

Family/Community Involvement:

Charter School Press Center. This website is designed to help charter schools develop positive media relationships. Sample press releases and a PowerPoint presentation on how to talk to the press are available. Also, very helpful contact lists of distribution services, national publications, and charter school and education reporters by state are provided.

Contracts with Parents and Students. Dozens of charter schools enter into contracts with parents and students. The form and content of these agreements vary widely. In some schools, these contracts are quite general in nature and merely outline some of the expectations of the school regarding student conduct and parent involvement in their children's education. In other schools, these contracts may be quite specific and contain very specific support or involvement requirements. Still other schools enter into contracts with parents and students that outline the obligations and responsibilities of both the school and the parent/student. Though some people criticize these contracts, others view them as an essential ingredient of an effective parent and student involvement policy. Following are examples of parent participation contracts from several charter schools: Charter Learning Center, Jingletown Charter School, Linscott Charter School, Mueller School.

Creating and Sustaining Family Friendly Charter Schools. ( 2000, Charter Friends National Network ) This resource guide offers strategies for involving families and other community members in the design phase and on a day-to-day basis once the school is up and running. The document highlights ways to communicate with parents and other community members about the school as well as ways to improve continuously the school's responsiveness to stakeholders.

Parent and Family Involvement. ( North Central Regional Educational Library ) This website offers an impressive range of resources on family and community involvement in the schools, including "Critical Issues" summaries of research on topics including parents centers in schools and establishing collaboratives and partnerships with community based organizations.

School and Family Partnerships: Surveys and Summaries. ( Center on Families, Communities, Schools & Children's Learning ) This resource includes highly detailed surveys for teachers to assess levels of parent involvement and teachers' beliefs about parent involvement in general and at their school; and surveys that ask similar things of parents. The surveys are followed by a section on how to summarize the data they generate, including interpreting the data and sharing the results with the respondents.

Washington Core Knowledge School Decision-Making Matrix. The purpose of the WCKS Decision-Making Matrix is to meticulously define the role of each member of the WCKS community. It is an excellent sample document, defining the roles of the school's Site-Based Management Council, administration, faculty, and parents.

Governance:
Management/Personnel: