NN4DA in the News

CCAP Releases Anti-Fraud Task Force Report

The California Charter Authorizing Professionals (CCAP) released a report this week with recommendations for how to improve policy and practices to prevent, identify, and correct fraud within the charter school sector. CCAP Anti-Fraud Task Force Report: Protecting California Public Schools Against Fraud, reflects the recommendations of a task force CCAP convened to respond to a major case of fraud in California.

Read coverage of the report here. While the task force and the report were written to address California’s charter sector, almost all the recommendations are equally applicable to other state contexts and could be adjusted to reflect each states’ unique policy context and charter sector.

The report’s recommendations are informed by a major case of fraud in California charter school. An independent study (i.e., online) charter program (A-3) was found to have committed $400 million worth of fraud in California. CCAP convened a task force with a broad group of experts in relevant fields for more than a year to study the problems related to the A-3 case and California. CCAP will work to support work by charter schools, authorizers, and in policy to promote the report’s 21 recommendations.

Study Explores Connection between
Application Reviews and School Success

The Fordham Foundation recently convened a webinar to share and discuss the findings of a study of North Carolina charter schools that explored the relationship between the authorizer’s evaluation of a charter application and the later success of the schools that were eventually approved. Do Authorizer Evaluations Predict the Success of New Charter Schools? reports on a study by Adam Kho, Shelby Leigh Smith, and Douglas Lee Lauen, which explored the findings of the reviews of charter applications by the North Carolina State Board of Education.

The study explored the recommendations from panels of application reviewers, which the study’s authors compared to the resulting schools. The report found:

  1. Schools that more reviewers voted to approve were more likely to open their doors on time but no more likely to meet their enrollment targets;
  2. Schools that more reviewers voted to approve performed slightly better in math but not in reading;
  3. Ratings for specific application domains mostly weren’t predictive of new schools’ success, but the quality of a school’s education and financial plans did predict math performance;
  4. Despite the predictivity of reviewers’ votes, simulations show that raising the bar for approval would have had little effect on the success rate of new schools.

Based on the study, Fordham recommended that authorizers:

  1. Pay close attention to applicants’ education and financial plans;
  2. Incorporate multiple data sources and perspectives; and
  3. Continue to hold approved schools accountable for their results.

Oklahoma Supreme Court Hears
Case of Catholic Charter School

The Oklahoma Supreme Court heard oral arguments about the legality of the state’s proposed Catholic charter school on April 2, 2024. The case, which is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by the side that loses in the Oklahoma courts, could have national implications for the charter sector.

The hearing is covered by the Washington Post; The 74; and USA Today, which quoted the National Alliance for Public Charter School’s Todd Ziebarth, addressing the consequences of the case:

“Make no mistake. This case is not about charter schools,” said Todd Ziebarth from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, which opposes the establishment of St. Isidore, in a statement after Tuesday’s oral arguments. “It is about fundamentally altering one of the founding principles of our nation.”

NN4DA Partner Events 

NN4DA Partner Events

NN4DA partner organizations welcome authorizers from other states interested in attending many of their events. Below are a few upcoming events that may be of interest to authorizers in other states.

 Florida Association of Charter School Authorizers (FACSA)

  • Membership Meeting: April 12, 2024, 9:00 am to 11:00 am, EDT. Registration

Colorado Association of Charter School Authorizers (CACSA) 

  • CACSA Financial Working Group – Discussion of Financial Metrics: April 9, 10:30am-11:30am MDT. Registration
  • CACSA Workshop – Conducting Effective Capacity Interviews: April 12, 10:00am – 12:30 pm MDT. Registration

Wisconsin Charter Schools Resource Center the Wisconsin Incubating State Partner.

A-GAME National Convening: Chicago, IL May 2-3, 2024. Final Day of registration April 5

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