Jed Wallace / commentary
January 1, 2013

picture of Jed Wallace

Jed Wallace

Many of California's charter schools are amid the best public schools in the land, if not the nation, merely some are too among the worst. Information technology is time for the lease community to fix the failings in the sector and so that more children have the chance to nourish a cracking school.

The second state in the nation to allow lease schools, California has long been at the forefront of didactics reform. Nosotros must also pb the way in accountability, which is why the California Lease Schools Clan (CCSA) is proud to back up the National Association of Charter Schoolhouse Authorizers (NACSA) "One 1000000 Lives" campaign, which kicked off in Nov. NACSA's goal is to give one million children admission to high-quality schools by encouraging effective charter authorizing, growing the number of high-quality charters beyond the country and closing those charters that are failing.

NACSA has called for:

  • All states to plant clear lease schoolhouse performance expectations and close those schools that do not run into the standards.
  • Implement new laws to hold charter authorizers answerable for the schools they corroborate. Those that keep failing schools open up will lose the ability to authorize schools.
  • Urge each state to create a statewide authorizer that will implement professional practices based on high standards and promote quality growth.

The fundamental premise of charter schools is more than autonomy and flexibility in exchange for greater accountability. We are all collectively responsible for making certain that schools are truly held accountable for serving students well—charter authorizers, government officials, policymakers, parents and lease schoolhouse leaders.

At the twentythursday anniversary of charter schools in California, this is the perfect moment not simply to celebrate the positive bear on charter schools have had on thousands of children, just to reflect on what we must do meliorate. Nosotros must tap into the spirit that sparked this motility—our deep conviction that all children can accomplish at high levels and deserve a high-quality education.

Last twelvemonth, for the first time, CCSA publicly called for the non-renewal of x chronically underperforming charter schools. It may seem surprising that a membership and professional person system would call for the closure of some of its own members. Still, we believe that the charter school community should pb the way on accountability and that CCSA is uniquely positioned to do so. Our public call is built on years of work behind the scenes with our members to find the best means to assess and evaluate schoolhouse functioning.

The CCSA Accountability Framework guides CCSA's efforts to raise accountability standards in a way that values academic rigor while also giving schools credit for growth and for taking on the challenge of serving traditionally disadvantaged students well. A fundamental component is our Like Students Mensurate, which looks at how schools perform compared to schools serving similar educatee populations across the state, as a mode to hone in on the value added by schools. We found charter schools of all types were broadly distributed across the continuum of operation and that these metrics did not unduly penalize schools serving disadvantaged students.

In order to meet the CCSA Minimum Criteria for Renewal, lease schools iv years and older must meet at to the lowest degree one of the following criteria:

  • Academic Functioning Index (API) score of at least 700 in the most recent year, or
  • Iii-yr cumulative API growth of at to the lowest degree 50 points, or
  • Ranked "within" or "above" for at to the lowest degree two out of the terminal three years on CCSA'south Like Students Measure.

Ultimately, it is authorizers—local schoolhouse districts, county offices of didactics or the State Lath of Education—that make the decision on whether a charter school volition continue to operate.

To date, iv of the schools on our listing take closed—two voluntarily. In three school districts, the boards of teaching conditionally approved the charter schools, setting specific academic targets that, if non met, will result in automatic revocations. In San Francisco Unified, Center Joint Unified and Antelope Valley Union Loftier, the board chose just to renew the charter schools. Absent-minded clearer guidelines/requirements governing renewal expectations, local political pressure can trump student operation outcomes every bit evidenced by these decisions to renew significantly low-performing schools unconditionally.

We knew it wouldn't be piece of cake to atomic number 82 the way—but students deserve no less.

California lease schools have tremendous momentum, with 109 new schools opening this schoolhouse year as parents and communities beyond the state turn to charter schools in e'er-greater numbers.

We are tremendously excited about the growth of charter schools and support the growth and replication of California'south highest-performing charter schools. Yet, we cannot truly have the bear on charters were intended to have—to reinvent public education—if nosotros exercise not close those charters that accept demonstrated an disability to run across the challenge of excellence and chronically underperform.

We have seen the ability of great charter schools to transform the lives of children. Just too many students are still not receiving the education they deserve. We did not start this motility to create more underperforming schools. For charters to succeed in improving public education, accountability must get from rhetoric to reality.

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Jed Wallace is president and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association, a membership and professional organization supporting the country's 982 lease schools. He began his career in public education as a teacher at Hooper Artery Elementary Schoolhouse, a two,000-student school in Due south-Central Los Angeles, where he established a successful school-within-the-school that became the basis for an effort to catechumen Hooper Avenue to charter status. He after worked in the Part of the Superintendent at San Diego City Schools and and so served as the principal operating officer of Loftier Tech High charter schoolhouse before joining CCSA.

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