NACSA Conference in Salt Lake City

I'm in Salt Lake City for the National Association of Charter School Authorizers conference. Today I'll be attending sessions on replication, closure and accountability. The hot topic in the charter authorizer community is hot to close unperforming charter schools. Another hot topic follows the trend in the past few years of replicating successful charter schools. Many of these replications use the same nonprofit charter management organization to oversee multiple schools.

I'll be twittering today @cocharters about the conference.

What's Going on in Denver?

Denver Public Schools has authorized more charter schools than any of the other 177 school districts in Colorado. Presently, 21 are operating and many more have been approved to open over the next few years.

Scoring #1 and #2 in the district according to the DPS School Performance Framework is Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST) and W Denver Prep. Both of these existing charter schools have been approved to replicate their existing programs in other parts of the district. Clearly, everyone in Denver sees the benefit of having independently-operated, successful charter schools. Right?

Not according to at-large Board of Education candidate, Christopher Scott, who seems to liken public charter schools to the plague. Forget that parents are flocking to these schools across the state with more than an estimated 35,000 on waiting lists for the more than 160 charter schools operating this school year.

One could think that Mr. Scott doesn't like public charter schools because he's aligned with the teacher's union, but in Denver the teacher's union has started an innovation school called Math and Science Leadership Academy.

Instead it seems that Mr. Scott is a part of the old education bureaucracy whose philosophies drove us to needing charter schools in the first place. When educrats aren't responsive to parents, parents find a way to go around them. They certainly don't elect them to the school board and trust that they know better than the parents who are raising these children.

Twin Peaks Academy Enjoys New Facility

Today I attended a meeting held at Twin Peaks Academy in Longmont. The charter school is in its 14th year of operation and just this year moved into a newly renovated facility on Sunset in Longmont. The new facility is in an industrial area. The building is brightly colored, has spacious classrooms and wide hallways. There's a wood-floor gym, cafeteria, and library for the K-8 students.

The Twin Peaks Academy board is considering expanding into high school in the future. They have unused space in the back of their facility for future expansion. Principal BJ Buchmann says the school currently has three classes per grade level and has expanded in the past few years.

Charter Schools DO Make a Difference!

Stanford University's Caroline Hoxby just released, "How New York City's Charter Schools Affect Achievement," a project funded by the national Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the U.S. Dept. of Education.

A few highlights of the report:
* A charter school student who attends grades K-8 will close 86% of the achievement gap in math and 66% of the achievement gap in English.
* Compared to lotteried-out students, a student who attends a charter high school has Regents examination scores that are about 3 pts higher for each year he spends in the charter school before taking the test.
* A student who attends a charter high school is about 7% more likely to earn a Regents diploma by age 20 for each year he spends in that school.

Unlike the CREDO study released earlier this summer, this Hoxby study uses the 'gold standard' of research, comparing students who made it into a charter school via a lottery and those who did not.

Of course just being in a charter school isn't a guarantee for increased student achievement. However, being in a charter school plus key features such as a longer school day, college prep mission, higher expectations and school culture do make a difference.

In the public discourse on 'turnaround' schools, converting the underperforming public school to charter status is one of the four options. Becoming a charter school is not a panacea. But charter schools have the freedom to design their own educational program and school culture. Under the pressure to perform or lose students, charter schools have often honed their curriculum to align with state standards and place an emphasis on student achievement--for every student. In urban areas, a longer school day and longer school year ensure students without a strong family background to support a quality education has the opportunity to increase learning.

Pundits are quick to rush to judgment about charter schools with each bit of research that comes out. It's important to remember the type of study that's being used when forming opinions. Data can be used to say anything. Quality studies use well-respected methodologies to ensure the outcome isn't biased. Further, research funded by the Institute for Education Sciences, for example, carries more credibility than individual institution research.

More Pictures from North Star Academy

North Star Academy Celebrates New Facility Expansion

North Star Academy in Parker celebrated their new facility expansion with a program this morning. Recognizing the anniversary of the 9/11 attach first, Civil Air Patrol cadets raised a Patriot flag given to the school by one of the families.

The Mistress of Ceremonies was a sixth grade student. She was joined by fellow students who gave out their own awards, like the Oscars, to people who were thanked for their efforts to make the new facility expansion happen.

The school's two mascots, terriers belonging to school principal Cynthia Haws, were given their own red fire hydrant just outside the school library where the ceremony was staged. In addition, Ms. Haws received a bench with an inscription recognizing her commitment to the charter school.

Student ambassadors were on hand to distribute programs, give tours of the school, and answer questions. In the cafeteria for the reception, more students were handing our snacks and soda.

North Star is beginnings its fourth year of operation and has students through seventh grade this year. Next year the school will also serve eighth grade. The school located in the building formerly occupied by Rennaisance Charter Academy, which became a district option school. The new expansion holds six new classrooms, an outdoor play area and a cafeteria.

"This is a Job Where You Need to Earn Your Keep"

New Orleans School Superintendent Paul Vallas says, "People want lifelong job security. But this is a system where you have to earn your keep." In a nutshell, this is the fundamental difference between traditional public school educational systems and public charter schools.


This year the New Orleans Supt. gave principals the authority to hire whomever they wanted to teach at their schools. Makes sense?


Not according to the New Orleans teacher's union and they're complaining.


Ever since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when the city was rebuilding--and in a different way--a focus on academic achievement of students has begun. New Orleans now has by far the highest percentage of students in public charter schools when compared to other regions of the country.



It didn't take long for Denver Public Schools administration to realize their charter schools were having a competitive advantage because they were hiring teachers in January and February, months before the traditional schools were able to select teachers. Moreover, founders of the two new Innovation schools in Denver realized that having wavier from certain statutes provides a greater likelihood that they will be able to achieve academic success with their students.

Early College HS of Arvada Offers New Program

In its second year of operation, Early College HS of Arvada is expanding its programming to target 15 to 17 year-olds in need of credit recovery or college credits. The school, located at 60th and Sheridan in Arvada, offers a small school environment with specialized attention for students performing below grade level.

Sarah Brock, the school's principal, started the school based on Southwest Early College in Denver. The school uses the Sylvan Learning system to remediate students, beginning at the point they're at and then moving them forward incrementally.

The new program, Excel, is designed for students with at least 20 high school credits. The first year in the program is focused on credit recovery with the use of computer and online classes. The curriculum is designed to match the student's needs.

Director of student services, Mr. Chris Gerboth, started Southwest Early College and has vast experience with the early college model. He also teaches at Early College HS of Arvada.

Unique characteristics of the early college model, producing results at Early College HS, are a small school atmosphere where all students are known by a caring adult and a workshop-type delivery model where students are more engaged in their learning. Students needing extra support get that either through one-on-one time with teachers or else using the Sylvan Learning system on computers.

Early College HS starts on August 17th. It will enroll about 100 students in the 2009-10 school year, up from about 45 students last year.

James Irwin

Recently I was at Arlington National Cemetery and looked up the grave of James Irwin, the Apollo 15 astronaut and eighth person to walk on the moon. I had spoken with Jim Irwin a few times before he died and have been friends with his daughter, Jill, for many years. I was excited to hear founders of a Colorado Springs charter school were going to name their school after Jim Irwin back in 1999. The vote before the Harrison 2 School District Board of Education was evenly split and the vote that eventually approved the school was because the board member knew James Irwin personally and couldn't vote against a man with such integrity. The charter school, James Irwin Charter Schools, has been an honor to Jim Irwin.

JICS started as a high school, but leaders quickly acknowledged students were coming in so low in math skills that they needed to open a junior high. The vision of creating students prepared to attend the best colleges and universities couldn't be accomplished when so much remediation was being done before students could take grade-level classes. Later, school leaders recognized the importance of having a K-12 student population and an elementary school was added. After the completion of a new elementary school wing last year, all students are one campus north of the airport in the southeast corner of Colorado Springs.