As CACSA enters the 2nd year of its federal project, a lot of opportunities are available for Colorado authorizers. This CACSA Update address the following issues and upcoming CACSA events.
- Expected Charter Applications, Pipeline Update
- Opportunities to Partner with other National Projects for Authorizers
- Expert Reviewer Pool, support opportunity
- Update on State Board Actions
- Groupsite Open to All Members
- Upcoming Events:
- Charter Schools and EASI Grants, webinar and vendor fair
- Rural Authorizers with the Colorado Rural Schools Alliance, conference call
- Updating District Charter School Policies, breakfast coffee discussion
- School Security and Safety for Charter Schools, conference call
If you have any issues you would like to raise to the full community you can “reply all” to this note, but please reserve this strategy for things that you truly want to bring to the attention of all members of the list. You can also contact Alex directly with any questions, comments, suggestions, or any note you would like to forward to a smaller set of colleagues.
Alex
1. Expected Charter Applications, Pipeline Update
The Colorado League of Charter Schools (CLCS) has assembled its annual list of possible charter school applications. This resource gives a good prediction of upcoming charter applications. Given a list of this length and the nature of charter applicants, it is also likely that it is incomplete or not up to date. We would appreciate any feedback or suggested edits to the list from those of you that are familiar with potential applicants in your district. If you have any feedback on the list, please forward it directly to Alex at CACSA. For more information on these applicants and their current status you can also contact the League directly. Attached is a spreadsheet from the League that lists:
- 14 groups submitting new proposals;
- 3 groups revising previous proposals that are expected to resubmit proposals; and
- 27 groups at an earlier stage of inquiring about potential charter proposals.
2. Opportunities to Partner with other National Projects for Authorizers
In addition to CACSA, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the National Charter School Institute (NCSI), and the California Charter School Association (CCSA) also won federal grants to help authorizers improve practices. NACSA is designing tools and assistance for small authorizers, which they define as having portfolios of 5-9 charter schools. The NCSI is partnering with Colorado’s Momentum Strategies to work on issues related to Alternative Education Campuses (AECs), other alternative schools, and alternative measurements. CCSA is working on measurements of school quality that go beyond academic results. These groups are all interested in partnering with Colorado authorizers and could provide opportunities to work with peers around the country on common challenges. If you are interested in connecting with these groups and volunteering to join their efforts, please contact Alex at CACSA and I can get you more information on each project and its potential partnerships.
3. Expert Reviewer Pool, soliciting experts and districts requesting their services
CACSA is creating a pool of expert reviewers that will be available to participate in charter application reviews. CACSA is looking for people to serve as expert reviewers and reaching out to districts that would like to add external reviewers to their application review procedures. CACSA will use funding from its federal grant to pay for these reviewers so that districts can add this recommended practice to their charter application review at no cost to the district. If you would like to serve as a reviewer, or if your district is interested in using people from this pool, please contact Alex at CACSA.
NACSA recommends in its essential practices that authorizers, “Use expert panels that include external members to review charter applications.” Currently, many districts in Colorado do not employ this approach. External reviewers bring additional insights into the viability of charter application and they can provide a fresh perspective and expertise on particular aspects of charter applicants. We are also planning to work with districts that are using this pool to add external reviewers to their process on various strategies that districts can use to generally strengthen their charter application review.
4. Update on State Board Actions
Assistant Attorney General Joe Peters recently spoke with authorizers at the quarterly authorizer meeting convened by CACSA and the Colorado Department of Education on October 4, 2019. Peters provided an overview of recent actions by the State Board of Education on charter appeals–placing recent decisions in a historical perspective. He also described changes to the administrative procedures used by the Board during appeal hearings. The slide show presented by Peters is attached. In the two most recent decisions, the State Board supported the position of school districts.
- In the case of Liberty Common School vs. Poudre School District, the Board voted 7 to 0 to support the ability of the district to pursue a charter term during the renewal of the school that was shorter than the charter term the school had previously.
- In the case of John Dewey Institute (JDI) vs. Douglas County School District, the Board voted 5 to 1 to support the district’s decision to deny the charter application.
- The State Board adopted new administrative procedures for charter school appeals. Among other changes, the new procedures provide the school and the authorizer uninterrupted time at the beginning of the hearing to present their cases. Questions from the State Board Members are then assigned in order, with a fixed time allotted for each Member.
5. CACSA Community on Groupsite
CACSA operates an online community on groupsite where members can post questions to their peers and share answers in a format that saves threaded conversations. People can also share files or other material. Members can receive these notices via email or search and view threaded conversations later regarding topics of interest. Recent discussions have explored districts that adopted the CACSA Standard Application, the role of DACs during renewal decisions, and modified application packages for expansion proposals, among other issues. The CACAS Community is available to all members. Contact Alex if you would like to get registered for the site and join the conversation.
6. Upcoming Events:
Several events are coming up to allow authorizers to discuss issues they face with their peers.
Charter Schools and EASI Grants
More than 70 charter schools have been identified by the state’s accountability system for chronic low performance (i.e., identified under the state system as Priority Improvement, Turnaround and/or through ESSA as Comprehensive, Targeted or Additional-Targeted Support). These identified schools are eligible for grants from CDE that can be used to engage in diagnostic work to understand the potential causes of their performance challenges, and they can also fund school efforts to implement evidence-based improvement strategies (including external partnerships) that are based on the challenges they identify.
CACSA is partnering with CDE to convene a webinar on this topic on Friday, October 18, from 10:30 am to 12:00 noon. On the call, CDE will share information on the process and these resources, and authorizers with experience with this process last year will also be available to discuss their experience. A list of identified schools is attached. If you have schools identified on this list, or just want to learn more about the process, please join us on the call. To join by computer:
https://zoom.us/j/327968267?pwd=UHBsSXJKSjNNaUVNMU1JblhOa2k0QT09; by phone, dial: 720 707 2699 US; Meeting ID: 327 968 267.
CDE is convening EASI Expo, where district staff and school staff can meet with and interview external providers who can support school and district improvement strategies. The next event is Monday, October 14th, from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon, at Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Boulevard, Arvada, CO 80003. You can register for the event here.
Rural Authorizers with the Colorado Rural Schools Alliance, conference call, Wednesday, October 23rd, at 7:30 am to 8:00 am. (Contact Alex Medler to register for the call and to get dial-in information). CACSA is partnering with the Colorado Rural Schools Alliance to convene a conference call for rural districts and districts that oversee only 1 or 2 charter schools. The call will discuss the concerns of small and rural authorizers; go over the plans for CACSA work this year and services available to authorizers; and discuss ways to work together to address the needs of small and rural authorizers.
Updating District Charter School Policies, breakfast coffee discussion, Wednesday, November 6, 2019; from 8:00 am to 9:30 pm. We will meet at the Boyer’s Coffee, at 7295 Washington St., Denver, CO. District policies regarding charter schools and authorizing can be instrumental in establishing strong practices and in fostering a high-quality charters that serve all students well. Authorizers can use their official policies to support the implementation of best practices, and to clarify how they will use their procedures to pursue local goals and values. CACSA and the Adams 12 Five Star School District are convening a breakfast/coffee discussion over district charter policies on. If you would like to join us, please RSVP to Alex prior to the meeting and he can forward materials that we will be discussing.
School Security and Safety for Charter Schools. (Conference call, date and time TBD). Several authorizers have revisited issues related to school security and safety with their charter schools. We plan convene a conference call to discuss recent experiences and to facilitate peer-to-peer exchange on this topic. If you would like to join this call, please contact Alex directly.