This CACSA Update has information on the following topics:

1. Register now for the CDE Special Education Equity Convening
2. Request for school security and safety contract language 
3. Continuing to solicit materials for our on-line archive of authorizer material
4. CACSA at NACSA. Who is going?
5. State Board of Education denies appeal of John Dewey Institute charter application
6. Study of Denver Public Schools charter schools finds positive impact
7. Study of New Orleans confirms impact of replacing low-performing schools with higher-performing schools

Alex

1. Register now for the CDE Special Education Equity Convening

The Charter School Institute is partnering with the CDE Schools of Choice office to host its first ever Equity Convening. Participants in this day-long event will review current research and best practices in special education, learn from local and national experts, and hear from a variety of stakeholders on how they are furthering this work. Attendees will leave with practical next steps to apply to their work. CACSA will also share its preliminary plans for work with districts on special education issues. 

Schools of Choice Equity Convening

Who:               Authorizers, school special education staff, school leaders, community members interested in special education

When:             September 6, 2019 from 9:00am-3:00pm

Where:            MindSpark Learning, 455 S Pierce Street, Lakewood, CO 80226

Space is limited so register today! For more information contact Clare Vickland: clarevickland@csi.state.co.us.

2. Request for school security and safety contract language or other authorizer material

Issues of school security and safety are being considered by several authorizers currently. Mackenzie Khan from Aurora Public Schools reached out to ask for any contract language or other authorizing material related to school security and safety that other authorizers use or are developing. Please send any material directly to Mackenzie at: mrkhan@aurorak12.org (and CC Alex and Lisa at CACSA as well please). I will assemble all material that is provided and create a package of such materials. We are also considering convening a conference call on the topic. Send Alex an email if you would be interested in joining a conference call on this topic. If we schedule a conference call, it will be announced to the full list. Our colleagues in Florida are also working hard on this issue and may be interested in a joint call on the topic

3. Continuing to solicit materials for our on-line archive of authorizer material

In addition to the request above, CACSA is continuing to gather materials from districts to include in our on-line archive of authorizer materials. Materials related to any aspect of authorizing are wanted. Please send any materials you would like to share to Lisa Jarvi at: lisa@ljarvicon.com.  Don’t be shy!  This week we received documents like: BVSD’s proposed application package, which took the CACSA model framework and updated it with input from NACSA, and the latest DCSD contract. 

4. CACSA at NACSA – Who is going?

Let Alex know if you plan to attend the NACSA annual meeting in St. Louis, Oct. 21-24. The Tri-State Alliance had two workshops accepted, where Colorado authorizers will share information on our work on student equity and on how to accurately predict and manage enrollment projections for new schools. We also plan to meet with our colleagues from the other partner states and other federally funded projects supporting authorizers. 

5. State Board of Education denies appeal of John Dewey Institute (JDI) charter application 

The State Board of Education voted to support the Douglas County School District’s (DCSD’s) denial of a charter application from the John Dewey Institute. You can review the materials related to the appeal here. During the State Board’s deliberations, a technical procedural issue was raised. The State Board recommended that when denying a charter application the authorizer use a written resolution (that the local board members vote on) that identifies the reasons why the local school board denied the charter application. 

6. Study of Denver Public Schools charter schools finds positive impacts

The Center for Research on Education Options (CREDO) at Stanford University released research this month examining the performance of charter schools in Denver Public Schools (DPS). You can view the deck on the research here, and read about it in the press here. The summary of all findings can be viewed here. The study examined charter schools, including single-site charter schools and those operating in networks; innovation schools; and traditional public schools; and presented data on a wide range of school types and student populations. The researchers at CREDO found:

“Overall: Students in Denver posted stronger learning gains compared to the state average gains in both reading and math throughout the 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17 school years. 

Sector: In both reading and math, Denver charter school students exhibited stronger gains than the state average in all three growth periods of 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17. District-run traditional public schools (TPS) in Denver showed the same pattern. Denver innovation schools grew similarly to the state average in 2014-15 and outperformed the state in 2015-16 and 2016-17 in reading. In math, Denver innovation schools outpaced the state in 2014-2015 and 2015-16 and were on par with the state average in 2016-17. Within Denver, charter schools exhibited stronger growth in reading in 2014-15 and 2015-16 and greater learning gains in math in 2014-15. No significant difference is found between Denver innovation schools and Denver TPS in either subject in any of the three growth periods.”

7. Study of New Orleans confirms impact of replacing low-performing schools with higher-performing schools

Researchers studying New Orleans charter sector released a report last week that confirmed the long-term positive impact on student performance of the city’s strategy of closing low-performing charter schools and providing higher-performing schools in their place. As the researchers explained, “Aside from the improvement when schools first opened, essentially all of the improvement in New Orleans’ average test scores has been due to the state regularly closing or taking over low-performing schools and opening new higher-performing charters (i.e., to charter authorization).” Download the report here. Read about it in the press here.