NACSA
Grant Recipients
A list of grant recipients is below. The following strategic investments will support the critical improvements of the policies and practices of these authorizers:
Fall 2011 Grant Recipients
- Arizona State Charter School Board ($87,500) Following the completion of an authorizer evaluation, the Arizona State Charter School Board was awarded an implementation grant to embed an interview into the application process and develop an evaluation framework to allow the Board to better assess and respond to different levels of academic, financial and organizational performance.
- Colorado Charter Schools Institute ($40,000) An implementation grant will support the development of a performance framework that will establish higher standards of performance and accountability.
- Hillsborough County Public Schools ($37,500) Hillsborough County received an evaluation grant, which will allow the authorizer to increase efficiency while maintaining high-quality practices.
- Indiana Charter School Board ($30,500) A strategic planning grant will enable the newly created Indiana Charter School Board to engage in a robust planning process that will establish best practices to guide authorizing in the years to come.
- New York State Education Department ($40,000) To implement its strategic plan, also supported through The Fund, the Charter Schools Office at the New York State Education Department was awarded an implementation grant to develop and deploy a comprehensive and sustainable fiscal oversight tool.
- SUNY Charter Schools Institute ($110,000) The Fund awarded an implementation grant to the SUNY Charter Schools Institute to design, pilot, evaluate and disseminate authorizing practices and documents for replication.
Summer 2011 Grant Recipients
- Baltimore City Public Schools ($37,500) Baltimore City Public Schools will use the evaluation grant to analyze its current authorizing practices and benchmark them against national standards.
- Delaware Department of Education ($75,000) With implementation support from The Fund, Delaware will develop an objective and defensible application process and a performance framework to drive renewal and closure decisions. Delaware previously received an evaluation grant from The Fund and built its implementation request on the evaluation recommendations.
- Hawaii Charter School Review Panel ($37,500) A comprehensive authorizer evaluation will assess the capacity, effectiveness and sharing roles of the Charter School Review Panel, the Charter School Administrative Office and the Board of Education.
- Louisiana Department of Education ($37,500) The Louisiana Department of Education will undergo an authorizer evaluation and use the recommendations to improve practice and provide clarity around how to grow capacity by streamlining resources.
- Nevada Department of Education ($114,863) Nevada received an implementation grant to implement recommendations from its comprehensive authorizer evaluation, which also was supported by The Fund. Specifically, Nevada will make substantive changes to the charter school application and create a coherent and aligned system to support performance-based accountability.
- North Carolina Department of Public Instruction ($37,500) The evaluation grant will provide an assessment of authorizing practices and policies that will enhance the quality of the state’s authorizing, which is timely because the state’s charter cap was just lifted.
- SUNY Charter Schools Institute ($50,000) With a planning grant from The Fund, SUNY will develop high-quality, replication specific authorizing policies and a plan for developing replication specific documents and protocols in the areas of: application; contract; academic, financial and compliance monitoring; and renewal.
Winter 2011 Grant Recipients
- Colorado Charter School Institute ($52,000) A strategic planning grant will enable Colorado Charter School Institute to become a successful agent for quality education across Colorado.
- The Thomas B. Fordham Institute and Education Service Center of Central Ohio ($125,000) These two organizations received an implementation grant to initiate a new, large-scale authorizer in Ohio. This project is an outgrowth of their strategic plan, the development of which was also supported by The Fund.
- Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools ($37,434) A comprehensive evaluation will enable the Office of Charter and Private Schools to strengthen its model and recruit the highest quality charter schools to the district.
- Utah State Charter School Board ($33,500) The Utah State Charter School Board will use the evaluation to compare its policies to NACSA’s Principles & Standards and to develop a roadmap for future practice and policy improvements. Read about the Utah State Charter School Board's experiences applying to and working with The Fund
Fall 2010 Grant Recipients
- Arizona State Board for Charter Schools ($37,050) The evaluation report will help Arizona determine what existing organizational structures and tools can be used to monitor Arizona’s new Performance Management Plan.
- Ball State University ($37,500) A comprehensive evaluation will allow the Office of Charter Schools to review and streamline authorizing processes.
- Delaware Department of Education ($33,700) Delaware plans to use the findings from the evaluation grant to identify areas of focus in order to achieve the ambitious goals proposed in the Race to the Top application. Read more about this grant.
- Minnesota Department of Education ($50,000) As an authorizer of authorizers, the Department seeks to develop a plan based on NACSA’s Principles and Standards that will improve the quality of authorizing and, ultimately, the performance of charter schools throughout the state.
- Nevada Department of Education ($36,827) The Department plans to use evaluation results to support its goal of moving from a passive to an aggressive authorizer. Read more about this grant.
- New York State Education Department/ The University of the State of New York – Regents Research Fund ($50,000) New York plans to develop and finalize a strategic plan that will focus on charter authorizing and guide the Department’s work as a statewide authorizer.
- Stockton Unified School District ($37,500) Stockton plans to use evaluation recommendations to develop authorizing protocol.
Summer 2010 Grant Recipients
- Friends of Education/Volunteers of America of Minnesota ($113,000) Together, these organizations will create and implement the “Minnesota Action Data Project,” a new public accountability system for Minnesota authorizers and charter schools that will turn school performance data into actionable information.
- Los Angeles Unified School District ($115,000) The implementation grant from The Fund will support the development and implementation of a performance-based accountability system based on academic performance goals and standards. The system will be implemented for all charter schools in order to set the standard for a district-wide accountability system.
- Minneapolis Public Schools ($124,830) With support from The Fund, Minneapolis Public Schools will implement policies and practices aligned with NACSA’s Principles &Standards in order to grow a significant portfolio of charter schools that consistently and dramatically improve the achievement of under-resourced Minneapolis children.
Spring 2010 Grant Recipients
- Thomas B. Fordham Institute/Educational Service Center of Central Ohio ($50,000) These two organizations have partnered to create a strategic plan for a new, statewide, high-quality authorizer.
- South Carolina Public Charter School District ($37,500) The South Carolina Public Charter School District will receive a comprehensive authorizer evaluation to align its practices with NACSA's Principles &Standards for Quality Charter School Authorizing.
- Arkansas Department of Education ($37,500) Driven by its commitment to create high-quality educational opportunities, the Arkansas Department of Education will receive a comprehensive authorizer evaluation.
- School District of Philadelphia ($37,500) In an effort to adopt authorizer policies that are aligned with best practices, the School District of Philadelphia will receive a comprehensive authorizer evaluation.
Fall 2009 Grant Recipients
- Georgia Charter Schools Commission ($35,000) The Charter Schools Commission is a new authorizer, and through this grant award will develop and finalize its first strategic plan.
- Milwaukee Common Council ($35,000) Grant funds will be utilized to develop and finalize a strategic plan that changes the Common Council's strategic direction from one that passively accepts applications for new schools, to one that more proactively seeks applicants.
- Indianapolis Mayor's Office ($100,000) Indianapolis will use the funds to implement two pilot projects; one that addresses High School Accountability and a second that measures the academic performance of its Special Education students. Watch video about this grant.
