NACSA | For Members
About Membership
NACSA is a nonprofit membership organization committed to developing and maintaining high standards for charter school authorizing. Our members are some of the largest charter school authorizers in the country and oversee more than half of the nation’s 5,000 charter schools.
NACSA is building a community of charter school industry leaders dedicated to improving public education through the creation of high-quality charter schools. These leaders share their experiences, lessons learned and challenges with one another to build the base of knowledge and practical tools that empower quality authorizing. Upon joining NACSA, authorizer member organizations pledge to uphold NACSA's Principles & Standards for Quality Charter School Authorizing, and to promote quality authorizing. Read Member Testimonials
NACSA strengthens the quality of charter schools by providing access to professional development and networking opportunities, advocacy, publications, and other resources, including:
- Sophisticated, practice-oriented Webinars on topics such as performance contracts, board governance, and the federal initiatives.
- Authorizing Matters Issue Briefs, NACSA’s quarterly publication on practice-oriented issues of importance to authorizers, including performance contracting, ongoing oversight and evaluation, and renewal decision making.
- Policy Guides, NACSA’s publications on issues of importance to quality authorizing, including federal and state policy options.
- Member Notes, NACSA’s monthly e-newsletter that covers news, industry trends, and current research.
- The Fund for Authorizing Excellence, through the Fund, NACSA members can apply for planning grants that lead to support for implementing new strategies and programs.
Most importantly, NACSA provides a national forum for authorizers to share best practices in order to strengthen the field and their own organizations. In fact, NACSA’s member services are so valuable that hundreds of individuals and organizations that are not authorizers have become members just to have access to the NACSA community and resources.
