NACSA Blog

NACSA Blog

Press Releases


National Association of Charter School Authorizers Appoints Education Leaders to National Advisory Board

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) is pleased to announce the appointment of seven distinguished professionals to its National Advisory Board. The 23- member board is comprised of leaders from …


National Survey Shows Charter School Closure Rates Dropped in 2010-2011 School Year

January 30, 2012 (Chicago, Ill.) – A report released today by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) indicates charter school closures have declined over the past three years. These findings …


NACSA Hails Congressional Action to Strengthen Charter School Authorizing

In adopting the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010, Congress recognizes for the first time the important role charter school authorizers play in determining charter school quality, winning it praise from the National …


NACSA Announces 2009 Awards for Excellence

The NACSA Awards for Excellence program celebrates individuals and organizations that advance the authorizing profession in three fields: • Advancing Knowledge, • Improving Policy, and • Improving Practice. NACSA announced the 2009 …


The Fund for Authorizing Excellence

NACSA established The Fund for Authorizing Excellence (The Fund) earlier this year to provide direct support to NACSA members who are working to create charter environments that foster schools with high student …


Low-Performing Charter Schools Fight Closure in Indiana

Last month, the charter schools office at Ball State University announced that it was revoking the charters of seven of its lowest performing schools for failure to meet the performance expectations outlined …


Closing bad charters isn’t the only challenge

The Fordham Institute’s Adam Emerson emphasizes the critical role that new schools must play in the transformation of one million lives. The One Million Lives Campaign launched in the fall by the National Association of …


Visualizing the Need for Great New Schools

As part of its annual Call for Quality Options, the Louisiana Department of Education has launched a new interactive information center to accompany the various ways in which the department is seeking …


D.C. debates growth of charter schools

The Washington Post’s Emma Brown scratches the surface of some of the difficult issues that arise when a city’s charter schools educate the same percentage of kids as its district schools.


New schools, new opportunities—seven steps to strategic change

Crossposted at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Closing schools, district or charter, is almost always difficult and disruptive. We should not pretend, though, that the disruption that comes with closure is worse …


New CREDO Study Confirms Need for Smarter Replication and Faster Action on Failing Schools

The Charter School Growth and Replication study released last week by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) has important implications for charter authorizers. The study’s key findings–that charter school performance is …


Give Quality a Chance: Maine Commission Working to Set High Standards

One way to provide more children with an opportunity to go to a great school is to approve only those charter applicants that have demonstrated that they are ready to succeed. The …


Ball State Stands Up for Quality

Earlier this week, Ball State University announced its intent to revoke the charters of seven of its nearly 40 charter schools for failure to meet performance expectations. The authorizer had until March to …


Smarter Growth: Indiana Replicates High-Performing Schools

Careful replication of high-performers is one important method for growing high-quality schools. The Indianapolis Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation is doing just that, with recent approvals of seven new charter schools—six of which are replications. …


500 New Charter Schools, 270K More Charter Students

The National Alliance has released new numbers from its Public Charter Schools Dashboard showing that this past fall 500 new charter schools opened their doors and an additional 270,000 students enrolled in charter schools …