NACSA | Annual Conference & Events
2010 NACSA Conference - Best Practice Channel Archive
Tuesday, October 19
10:45 AM – NOON Session Block
Building the Foundations: How strong application practices lead to strong charter schools
Doug Thaman, NACSA; Rachel Ksenyak, NACSA
This session provides attendees with an overview of a model application process – from establishing an RFP, to evaluating applications, to presenting recommendations to the deciding board for a charter approval or denial vote. The session includes a detailed walk-through of a model evaluation rubric, and attendees will have the opportunity to use the rubric to evaluate pieces of a written application and develop follow-up questions for the applicant.
PowerPoint | Evaluation Rubric Handout | Application Evaluation Process Overview Handout | Application Sample Handout
Charter School Governance: The why and how of strong governance
Joey Gustafson, JM Consulting, Inc.; Josephine Baker, DC Public Charter School Board, NACSA Board Member; Joanna Smith, University of Southern California; Penny Wohlstetter, University of Southern California
This session explores the research and practical application of strong governance monitoring. Participants can expect to answer questions such as, what indicators, measures and metrics of strong charter board governance should an authorizer assess? And, what performance targets lead to monitoring that is strong, but respects schools' autonomy?
PowerPoint
Lessons from the Front Lines: Policy, practices and unintended consequences on the path to creating great schools
Terry Ryan, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; James D. Merriman IV, New York City Charter School Center
This session will illuminate the challenges and unintended consequences of charter laws, policies and authorizer actions in light of the continued call for replication and closure as tools to build a stronger charter school sector. Based on The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation’s book Ohio’s Education Reform Challenges: Lessons from the Front Lines, attendees will hear first-hand accounts of the obstacles faced when moving from policy to practice in two very different authorizing environments.
1:45 – 3 PM Session Block
Monitoring Charter Schools: Effective strategies for monitoring new and replicated charter schools
Simeon Stolzberg, SUNY Charter Schools Institute; Amy Van Atten, Central Michigan University; Benjamin Jankens, Central Michigan University; Corey Northrop, Central Michigan University
As more and more new charter schools open to serve students and successful charters begin to replicate, monitoring strategies become essential to ensure school success. These new challenges require authorizers to differentiate between the needs of new single school start-ups, veteran schools, replications and networks. This session will provide sample monitoring tools and protocols. Together, attendees and presenters will consider what it takes to apply effect monitoring strategies in an era of rapid charter expansion.
PowerPoint | The CMU Model | Sample Performance Summary
Accountability for Charter Schools Serving Unique Populations
Rebecca Gau, Arizona Charter Schools Association; Jody Ernst, Colorado League of Charter Schools
When serving a unique population of students, authorizers need to establish, prioritize, and report on real evidence of success. This session will provide attendees an opportunity to learn about and discuss credible evidence of student and school success that is not always included in state assessment systems.
Follow the Money: How to monitor financial health effectively
Katie Piehl, Volunteers of America of Minnesota; Ben Aase, LarsonAllen; David Hruby, SUNY Charter Schools Institute
Just exactly how does a quality authorizer analyze financial performance effectively without monitoring every transaction? This session examines the practices of authorizers who effectively monitor school finances without micromanaging the money. Attendees will receive examples and tools used by authorizers that they can use in their own practice. They will also gain experience in analyzing mock financial documents, sharing their findings and discussing what corrective actions they should take in a given situation.
PowerPoint Part 1 | PowerPoint Part 2 | PowerPoint Part 3
3:15 – 4:30 PM Session Block
Performance Management for Authorizers, Schools and Students
Carolyn Bridges, Polk County Public Schools (FL); Mark Weinberg, Central Michigan University; Ken Surratt, Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO)
Setting a high bar for achievement, governance and finance is an authorizer’s primary duty, with the task of gathering, analyzing and reporting on school performance following closely behind. This session offers a look at some ways to apply performance management techniques to attendees’ portfolios of charters and how they can help schools use performance management techniques with students. Attendees will take a brief look at CREDO’s Incline Performance Management Training and will hear from an early adopter in Polk County Schools. Central Michigan’s ‘My Goal’ will give participants insights into how to support schools and their students in focusing on quality outcomes.
PowerPoint Part 1 | PowerPoint Part 2 | Goal Handout | Reauthorization Checklist | Academic Performance Report
High Stakes Decision Making: A revocation role play exercise
Kathryn Mullen Upton, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; Kim Wechtenhiser, SchoolWorks
Join this session for a live action decision making experience to determine what a charter board should do in the face of low enrollment and failing scores. This fast pace participation session will have attendees making the tough call on a failing school.
PowerPoint | Case Study | Wild Card
Charter Contracts: Where accountability and autonomy are defined
William Haft, NACSA; Paul O’Neill, Tugboat Education Services
This session introduces attendees to the significance of quality contracting, the overall areas that must be included and a list of autonomy and accountability contract elements. Attendees will have the opportunity to debate poorly drawn contract elements to gain an understanding of the clear, but fine line, that exists between autonomy and accountability. Attendees will work in groups to use a contract analysis tool developed by NACSA and apply it against strong, weak and overly bureaucratic contract examples.
PowerPoint
Wednesday, October 20
10:45 AM – NOON Session Block
What Research Tells Us About Charter Management Organization Success
Robin Lake, Center on Reinventing Public Education; Penny Wohlstetter, University of Southern California; Joanna Smith, University of Southern California; Ebony Lee, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
This session will provide insight into a study from the Center on Reinventing Public Education that highlights the successes, challenges and steps along the way as management organizations are founded and start to grow. Professors from the Rossier School of Education at University of Southern California will share their research on management organizations on a variety of topics, including replication and governance. This promises to be a session that will change the way attendees look at management organizations in the future.
Invest in the Midwest: How Milwaukee and Ohio are embracing strategic and aggressive authorizing
Rebeca Huffman, NACSA; Terry Ryan, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; Todd Hanes, Education Service Center of Central Ohio; Cynthia Zautcke, Charter School Review Committee, Milwaukee Common Council
Why are comprehensive evaluation and planning important and how do they fit into the bigger picture of authorizing? Join The Fund for Authorizing Excellence as it highlights how two grantees in Milwaukee and Ohio are improving authorizer practice and policy environments through comprehensive evaluation and planning.
Case Study: Lessons learned from collapse of a management company
Alex Medler, NACSA; Jim Ford, Raza Development Fund; Stephanie Garcia Board President, Pueblo 60 School District; Randy DeHoff, Colorado State Board of Education; Nora Flood, Colorado League of Charter Schools
The case of Cesar Chavez Charter School Network provides attendees a look at the experiences of three different Colorado authorizering entities that granted charters to schools within the same network of charter schools, and the struggles and successes each faced as the network collapsed amid allegations of financial impropriety on the part of the founders.
1:45 – 3 PM Session Block
Big Reform in the Big Easy: Transforming education in the City of New Orleans
Erin Bendily, Louisiana Department of Education; Lourdes Moran, New Orleans Board of Education; Greg Richmond, NACSA; Shannon Jones Couhig, Cowen Institute
Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans and its long-troubled public school system. As the city was rebuilt, education was transformed and a school system based on school autonomy, strong accountability and parental choice was born. Representatives the area will discuss how this model is rapidly turning around some of the state's lowest performing schools, the unique challenges that have emerged and how success is being replicated. Work underway to improve charter school authorizing statewide will also be discussed.
Charters for Every Student: High school and special education accountability systems
Rebeca Huffman, NACSA; Karega Rausch, Indianapolis Mayor’s Office
Learn about the Indianapolis Mayor Office’s implementation of a new accountability system for high school and special education students with support from The Fund for Authorizing Excellence.
PowerPoint
3:15 – 4:30 PM Session Block
Tackling Inequities in Charter School Funding
John Jacobson, Ball State University; Delbert Jarman, Ball State University; W. Holmes Finch, Ball State University; Larry Maloney, Aspire Group
Results from Ball State University's study "Charter School Funding; Inequity Persists" will be discussed with the goal of providing insight into authorizers struggling to oversee the charter sector in an era of ever constricting resources.
NACSA’s Authorizer Evaluation: Applying Principles & Standards to improve authorizing
Cindy Zautcke, Milwaukee Common Council; Karen Klinzing, Minnesota Department of Education; David Hartman, Minnesota Department of Education; William Haft, NACSA
A primary challenge for authorizers is to ensure they are spending resources on what really matters. Through a discussion of NACSA’s Authorizer Evaluation Protocol, participants will gain a better understanding of what factors lead to quality authorizing and of how the evaluation can guide authorizers’ efforts to strengthen their focus. Participants will learn how to tap into a process that can identify strengths and opportunities for growth practices, as well as discuss obstacles and challenges to improving practice.
PowerPoint | Authorizer Evaluation Framework
What NACSA’s Principles & Standards Mean for Authorizer Practice
Margaret Lin, NACSA; Jim Goenner, Central Michigan University, NACSA Board Member
This session examines how NACSA’s Principles & Standards can strengthen the work authorizers do every day. Attendees will examine how they can apply the elements of this guide to enhance their practices and hear examples of how authorizers with high quality schools use these principles and standards to ensure school success.
PowerPoint
