FCS Raters Information Packet SY 15.16

Fulton County Board of Education Charter Petition Evaluation Forms

These tools are to be used by individuals of the Fulton County Schools (FCS) Raters’ Committee while reviewing charter school applications. They are based upon Fulton County Board of Education Policy and the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE) Charter School Petition Application and process.

Pre-Submission Petitioner Interview – completed by the Charter Coordinator. A governing board interview is required to establish the capacity of the governing team. The interview takes place after the Letter of Intent is received and before the petition is submitted. In the case of renewals, this step is not required.

Part I: The Initial Compliance Checklist – completed by the Charter Coordinator. These items ensure the minimum application components have been submitted. Petitions which do not demonstrate minimum compliance will be withdrawn from the process. Withdrawn petitions will not be returned to the petitioner.

Part II: Initial Feedback Directions and Raters’ Reading Guide – completed by the individual raters. The six Components of a charter school are assessed. Raters are encouraged to give feedback to the petitioner on each of the Component areas. This feedback is shared with the petitioner in the Initial Memo. The petitioner is free to make changes to the petition after reviewing the Initial Memo.

Part III: Final Evaluation Rubric – completed by the Raters ’ Committee. The raters will meet to evaluate the most recent version of the petition in alignment with the Standards of each Component. The Raters Committee will make a recommendation to the FCS Superintendent for each petition of Approval, Denial or Continued Discussion. A record of their insights will be contained in the Final Memo.

The Fulton County Board of Education (FCBOE) will receive copies of all these communications as well as the complete petition in order to fully inform their decision.

Petitioners are reminded that all interactions in this process are public documents and may be requested by the public under the Open Records process. 2 FCS Pre-Submission Petitioner Interview Sample Questions

Charter Name Interview Date Attendees Rater

1. Charter School

Why are you applying to be a charter school?

2. Relationship with Authorizer

What is your view of the state’ s requirement that the school system “ control and manage” its authorized charter schools? What about Fulton County Schools has attracted you to seek a partnership with us? What challenges do you anticipate between our two organizations? What does your concept offer to the FCBOE and the students and communities it serves? What would be the most important service or support that FCS could offer to your charter school?

Answers indicate an understanding that Fulton County Schools (FCS) will authorize exemplary charter schools, enforce clear expectations, and identify their successful educational and operational approaches.

No Weak Adequate Strong Understanding Understanding Understanding Understanding

3. Governing Board

Will the existing founding board members become the governing board for the school? What group will hold the legally binding charter contract? What expertise does each of you bring to this founding board and why do you personally want to be on this board? How many hours per week do you plan on donating to this endeavor? What professional competencies will be needed on your school’ s governing board? Are they in place now? How will those competencies be filled over time (succession planning)? What training have you received thus far and what training will you need moving forward? Apart from meeting the student achievement goals set forth in the charter, how does the organization plan to assess successful board governance? What have been the major organizational challenges for the board so far and how have those challenges been addressed?

Answers indicate an understanding of governing board best practices such as board roles and functions, board development, and realistic expectations.

No Weak Adequate Strong Understanding Understanding Understanding Understanding 3

4. Charter School Concept

Briefly describe your charter concept. How did your concept originate? What does your concept offer to students and their families? Why do you need a charter school to implement your concept; why not bring your change through a typical FCS charter system school? Where else have you seen your concept or something similar implemented? What is the evidence that the concept improved student and or organizational performance?

Answers indicate an understanding of the proposed concept(s) and data driven decision making.

5. Business Plan

Will your charter school be able to operate without debt on FCS funding levels or will it require additional, outside resources? If so, how will your school acquire those additional resources? What are your most pressing concerns, financially speaking? Describe your facility arrangement and backup plan, if any. What is the process for setting the charter school’ s annual budget? Who at the school will be responsible for financial management? When the board is presented with the budget for approval, how will board members know whether to approve it, deny it, or make changes to it?

Answers indicate an understanding of public school financing and transparent operations.

6. Organizational Operations

What sorts of decisions will the governing board make and what sorts of decisions will be left to the school leader? What do you see as the relationship between your board and the school’ s leadership? What is the process for hiring and evaluating the charter school leader and teachers? What is the process for dismissing the charter school leader and teachers? How will your school be organized in order to meet the federal, state and local requirements? How will the organization build an effective school culture?

(For Charters hiring EMO) Why did you decide to use an EMO in general and this EMO in particular? What process did you follow to select your particular EMO? Describe the relationship you will have with the EMO. What are the terms of your contract with the EMO? 4 What authorities do you plan to empower the EMO with? How will you monitor their use of your authority? If the EMO does not meet your expectations, what are your alternatives? Does the EMO understand your relationship with FCS?

Answers indicate an understanding of organizational relationships and best practices.

7. Case Study Questions – select one

1. Assume that in the third year of the charter, data indicates that the school is not meeting a majority of the academic targets established in the contract. The school has a long wait list and is financially sound. The staff and principal are working hard. However, the student performance is not significantly differently from student performance in similar FCS typical schools. How would the board handle this situation?

2. Assume that in the second year of the charter, a vocal group of parents denounce the principal for behavior they believe is rude and disrespectful of parents and students. They have even started a website detailing their various complaints and have attended one of your governing board meetings publicly calling for her removal. Student academic performance is strong and staff satisfaction is high. How would the board handle this situation?

3. Assume that in the third year of the charter, the board and the EMO develop differing philosophies concerning the direction of the school and decide to dissolve the vendor contract. How would this be accomplished?

Discussion reflects an understanding of transparent processes and legal responsibilities.

No Weak Adequate Strong Understanding Understanding Understanding Understanding 5 8. Communication Map

The verbal communication pattern between interview members is recorded here. A diverse pattern indicates well balanced participation across the board as well as a shared knowledge base and shared organizational norms. 6 P ART I: INITIAL COMPLIANCE CHECKLIST

Mandatory

 20 CDs containing Parts A, B, C and D in Microsoft Word format (Some attachments may be in .pdf)  One original and two copies bound by binder clips  Completed FCS Application Part A - Introductory Information (unaltered and filled out by hand in blue ink)  Completed FCS Application Part B in Word format - Petition Essentials

 Signed FCS Application Part C – Letter of Assurances  Notarized OCGA § 50-36-1(e)(2) Affidavit  A copy of the by-laws for the nonprofit corporation and/or the entity which will hold the charter (if different from the nonprofit)  A copy of any admissions (pre-lottery) application the charter school proposes to use  The charter school’ s proposed annual calendar and a draft of the charter school ’ s daily school schedule  Complete and the start-up budget template located online at: http://www.gadoe.org/External-Affairs-and-Policy/Charter- Schools/Pages/Charter-Petition-Application.aspx . Please note that the budget template includes: o A monthly cash flow projection detailing revenues and expenditures for the charter school’ s first two (2) years of operation; o An alternative monthly cash flow projection detailing revenues and expenditures for the first two (2) years of operation with the assumption of one-half (1/2) of the projected student enrollment; and o A spreadsheet projecting cash flow, revenue estimates, budgets, and expenditures on an annual basis for the first five (5) years of the charter term.  Research justifying the curricular, instructional and operational innovations  A copy of the proposed student code of conduct  A written grievance procedure to resolve student, parent, and teacher complaints  A written procedure for resolving conflicts between the charter school and the local board of education  A copy of the Letter of Intent submitted to GADOE and FCS Conditional  A copy of any intended contracts for the provision of education management services, if applicable  A copy of any MOU for a proposed facility, if applicable  A copy of any agreements, contracts or MOUs with entities providing services to the school, if applicable  A copy of the agreement between the charter contract holder and governing board, if applicable  A copy of the certificate of occupancy, if applicable  A copy of the school’ s emergency safety plan, if applicable  7 PART II: Initial Feedback Directions and Raters’ Reading Guide

Overview:

The system and the petitioner value the expert judgment of the subject matter experts that comprise the FCS Raters Committee. To preserve safety and to ensure that no un-due pressure is applied by other parties, raters’ identities are kept completely anonymous. If, after the final vote of the FCBOE is taken, the Charter Coordinator wishes to publicly thank the raters for their service to the FCBOE, the Charter Coordinator may only do so with the express permission of the individual rater.

Using their knowledge, experience and insights, raters share the following with petitioners: Whether the concepts presented are within the federal and state laws; Whether the concept is strong as presented or if there are any changes that could be made to the concept to improve it.

These suggested improvements can be hand written on a hard copy or electronically using “comments ” in Adobe or “ revisions tool ” in Word.

The Charter Coordinator will vet the responses, compile them in the FCS Initial Memo, and share the feedback with the petitioner.

Petitioners can decide to follow the rater’ s suggestions completely, ignore the suggestions completely or partially adopt suggestions.

1. Respond to each Feedback Item in writing using the response form supplied by the Charter Coordinator. 2. Alter the petition using the Revision Tool in Word to reflect any changes made and resubmit electronically to the Charter Coordinator. 8 Raters Reading Guide

1. THE CASE: This component is intended to provide a top line picture of the educational concept being proposed as well as how the school will function in the community in which it will be located.

A. Items to be addressed in the petition: What is your motivation for applying to be a charter school? What will you be able to do with a charter that you can’ t do without a charter? Describe how parents, community members, and other interested parties were involved in developing the petition and will be involved with the school. What is your understanding of the Fulton County Board of Education’ s obligation under the law to “ control and manage ” the charter schools it authorizes? Can you describe the larger community in which the charter school will be located to include demographic and subgroup data as well as information about the other schools in the area? How will this charter school serve the identified community more effectively than existing public schools in the area? (Conversion or Renewals ONLY) Provide evidence of a secret ballot vote indicating that the petition was agreed to by a majority of the families of the students participating in the secret ballot vote per FCS policy. (Conversion schools ONLY) Provide evidence of a secret ballot vote indicating that the petition was agreed to by a majority of the faculty and instructional staff.

B. Thought Questions: Does the petitioner understand the difference between a public school and a private school? Why does this group want to work with Fulton County Schools? Would the petitioner’ s organizational culture work well with Fulton County Schools ’ organizational culture? Will the concepts be successful in the targeted community? Could typical schools successfully implement the concepts presented here?

C. Practical Matters (Please note specific page numbers when appropriate.) Are there any formatting or grammatical errors in this section? Are there any errors of fact in this section? Do any of the concepts presented violate state or federal laws? 9 2. ACADEMIC PLANS: The component should clearly explain the school’ s detailed plans to achieve the student achievement levels identified in the petition.

A. Items to be addressed in the petition: How will the charter school governing board, management, instructional leadership, faculty and staff know that students are on track to meet these academic goals? What assessments will the school administer to obtain performance data for each student? How will the school obtain baseline achievement data? How will the school benchmark student growth? How will the school communicate this information to governing board, management, instructional leadership, faculty and staff? What specific actions will the school’ s management, instructional leadership; faculty and staff take to ensure student performance objectives are met during the proposed charter term?  What is the focus of the curriculum? Is it aligned with the GPS?  What are the educational innovations that will be implemented?  How will the curricular and instructional innovations increase student achievement?  Why are the innovations appropriate for this unique school?  What, if any, extracurricular or other auxiliary educational activities will be offered at the school? Does the school envision collaboration with FCS in these areas?  Describe the anticipated teacher-to-student ratios and the rationale for maintaining these ratios.  If this is a charter high school, describe how the charter high school will determine that a student has satisfied the requirements for high school graduation, including the credits or units to be earned and the completion credentials to be awarded.  What are the school’ s plans for educating special populations?  How will the charter school meet the needs of students identified as gifted and talented?  How will the charter school provide state and federally mandated services for students with disabilities?  How will the charter school provide state and federally mandated services for English Language Learners (ESOL)?

B. Thought Questions: Are the academic objectives achievable given the targeted community? Are the objectives higher than those in similar typical schools? Are the academic implementation plans feasible, reflective of good organizational processes, and likely to achieve the objectives? Are there more effective ways to achieve the objectives?

C. Practical Matters (Please note specific page numbers when appropriate.) Are there any formatting or grammatical errors in this section? Are there any errors of fact in this section? Do any of the plans presented violate state or federal laws, with special attention to ESOL, TAG, SEC and OCR? 10 3. ORGANIZATIONAL PLANS: The component should clearly explain how this charter school is structured in order to achieve improved student performance or organizational effectiveness.

A. Items to be addressed in the petition: What specific actions will the school take to achieve its organizational performance objectives? What are the organizational innovations that will be implemented during the proposed charter term? How will the innovations increase organizational effectiveness? Why are the innovations appropriate for this unique school?

B. Thought Questions: Are the planned organizational practices aligned with the needs and resources present in the targeted community? Are the objectives higher than those in similar typical schools? Are the organizational implementation plans supportive of student achievement, reflective of good organizational processes, and likely to achieve the organizational objectives? Are there more effective ways to achieve the objectives?

C. Practical Matters (Please note specific page numbers when appropriate.) Are there any formatting or grammatical errors in this section? Are there any errors of fact in this section? Do any of the plans presented violate state or federal laws? 11 4. GOVERNANCE: The component should clearly explain how the governing board will function as a legal public entity using Fulton County taxpayer monies and serving Fulton County students, families and communities.

A. Items to be addressed in the petition:  What is the composition of the founding board? How were the members selected and by whom? What are the plans for transition from a founding board to a governing board?  If the holder of the charter contract and the governing board are two different entities, the relationship between them needs to be clearly articulated in a separate MOU or in both sets of organizational bylaws.  What is the composition of the governing board? How and when will board members be selected? What are the terms of members? How and why will governing board members be removed? If the holder of the charter contract and the governing board are two different entities, please answer the above questions for the holder of the charter contract as well.  What are the governing board’ s function, duties and role in the areas of budget, resource allocation, personnel decisions (primarily school leader selection, evaluation, and termination as well as participation in the state mandated teacher evaluation system), establishing and monitoring the achievement of school improvement goals, curriculum and school operations?  If an EMO, authorizer or other charter partner shares responsibilities with the governing board, those responsibilities should be identified in the charter and in a signed, operationalized agreement submitted as an exhibit.  What is the plan and timeline for ongoing governance training in order to build the capacity needed to make decisions in the above-mentioned areas? How will you ensure a diverse board with broad skill sets?  How will the governing board assess its own development and effectiveness? What is the school’ s timetable and plan for achieving accreditation from the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools (SACS) AdvancEd, the Georgia Accreditation Commission (GAC), or some other recognized accrediting commissions?  What communication protocols will the governing board follow with parents, the larger community and FCS staff and Board of Education members?  Charter school board members and employees are held to following an established conflict of interest policy per the terms of state law (O.C.G.A. 20-2-2065(b)(5), O.C.G.A. 20-2-63) and the charter contract. Are there any existing or potential conflicts of interest? How will the governing board ensure that current and future board members avoid conflicts of interest?  What specific actions will the school take to achieve its organizational performance objectives?  What are the organizational innovations that will be implemented during the proposed charter term?  How will the innovations increase organizational effectiveness?  Why are the innovations appropriate for this unique school? (For charter schools using a third party educational management organization ONLY)  How will the contract be in the best educational and financial interests of the charter school?  What other education service providers (ESP) were considered and what were the reasons this ESP was selected above all others?  Describe the history of the ESP selected, including academic results, closures, non- renewals and separations.  How was the management contract negotiated? 12  Briefly describe the range of services the education service provider will provide for the school. How will the governing board monitor and assess the performance of the management organization in these areas? An operationalized contract with the ESP needs to be included in the Exhibits which clearly defines the services that will be rendered over the term of the charter as well as the associated costs for those services.  Will the school be able to function without the ESP services in the event of dissolution of the contract? If so, what terms in the contract allow for such an eventuality and what are the costs associated with the dissolution of the contract between the charter school and the ESP?

B. Thought Questions: Does the governing board retain decision making authority in the following areas: personnel decisions, financial decisions, curriculum and instruction, resource allocation, establishing and monitoring the achievement of school improvement goals, and school operations? Does this governing board structure promote community involvement which will ensure student performance and transparent operations? Are there governance development plans that will promote the growth of the board as an organization over the term of the charter? If so, can these plans be improved? Will this governing board need members with specific skills in order to succeed? Are those types of members in place or are their viable plans to place them on the board? Is there a better governance model they should consider?

C. Practical Matters (Please note specific page numbers when appropriate.) Are there any formatting or grammatical errors in this section? Are there any errors of fact in this section? Do any of the plans presented violate state or federal laws? 13 5. FINANCIAL PLANS: The component should clearly explain how this charter school will function financially in order to be sustainable and supply the resources required to fully implement the organization and academic plans.

A. Items to be addressed in the petition:  What are your plans, if any, for securing other sources of funding, including funding from corporations, individuals, foundations, philanthropic groups, or any other source?  What financial innovations will be implemented during the proposed charter term?  How will the innovations increase financial effectiveness?  Why are the innovations appropriate for this unique school?

B. Thought Questions: Will the financial plans ensure that the charter will be able to fully implement the academic and organizational plans? Do the financial plans appear to be realistic and comprehensive? Are there additional resources the school could acquire? Are they any significant risks that have not been identified? Do the processes appear to be transparent and practical? How could they be improved?

C. Practical Matters (Please note specific page numbers when appropriate.) Are there any formatting or grammatical errors in this section? Are there any errors of fact in this section? Do any of the plans presented violate state or federal laws? 14 6. OPERATIONAL PLANS: The component should clearly explain how this charter school will perform the basic functions of a public school (effective school culture, a safe learning environment, additional supports that might be needed by this particular student population, etc.).

A. Items to be addressed in the petition:  How will students be admitted to the charter school?  What is the school’ s attendance zone?  What are the rules, procedures and timelines that will govern admission and registration?  How will the charter school reach students representative of the racial and socioeconomic diversity in the school system?  How does the school plan to recruit students and maintain/increase enrollment?  What will be the student discipline and expulsion process and what role does the charter school wish the school system to play in the process?  What is the location of the facility?  Is the facility new or existing?  Will the facility require renovations? If so, describe the extent of the renovations and source of funding to pay for the renovations.  Does the charter school have an MOU for the facility pending charter school and facility approval and is it provided as an Exhibit?  Does the charter school have a Certificate of Occupancy (CO) for the proposed facility and is it provided as an Exhibit? If not, what is the date by which the charter school will have a CO?  Does the charter school have an emergency safety plan pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 20-2- 1185 for the proposed facility and is it provided as an Exhibit? If not, what is the date by which the charter school will submit a plan to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and FCS?

B. Thought Questions: Will the charter school processes ensure a safe, effective learning environment? Are the operations aligned to the anticipated student population? What is missing or could be improved? Will the processes result in the anticipated student performance and/or create a successful school culture, and/or successfully remediate behaviors that interfere with student achievement? How can the operations be improved?

C. Practical Matters (Please note specific page numbers when appropriate.) Are there any formatting or grammatical errors in this section? Are there any errors of fact in this section? Are any of the plans presented in violation of state or federal laws? 15 Part III: FINAL EVALUATION RUBRIC

1. THE CASE

A. Component Explanation

The component is intended to provide the rater with a top line picture of the educational concept being proposed as well as how the school will function in the community in which it will be located.

B. Evaluation Standards

Check the appropriate rating for THE CASE. An excellent petition will demonstrate the following standards:

The petitioner demonstrates a deep and authentic understanding of the targeted community the charter school is applying to serve. The petitioner demonstrates a level of community support which will enable the charter school to fully utilize the resources available in the targeted community and/or supplement and develop those resources. The school concept will produce high quality educational outcomes in the targeted community. The petitioner understands the role of FCS and will actively collaborate with FCS to serve students.

Very Unlikely Unlikely Likely Highly Likely to Achieve to Achieve to Achieve to Achieve Standards Standards Standards Standards 1 2 3 4

THE CASE Total Score: ______16 2. ACADEMIC PLANS

The component should clearly explain to the rater the school’ s detailed plans to achieve the student achievement levels identified in the petition.

Check the appropriate rating for ACADEMIC PLANS. An excellent concept will demonstrate the following characteristics:

 The data and communication processes which ensure that the charter school will be able to anticipate and adjust its operations to meet changing academic expectations and/or capitalize on new academic opportunities over the term of the contract.  The curriculum and instructional methods envisioned will result in outstanding student outcomes in the targeted community.  The charter school will be willing and capable of providing all students with an exemplary education in the highly regulated public education sector.

ACADEMIC PLANS Total Score: ______17 3. ORGANIZATIONAL PLANS

The component should clearly explain how this charter school is structured in order to achieve improved student performance or organizational effectiveness.

Check the appropriate rating for ORGANIZATIONAL PLANS. An excellent petition will demonstrate the following standards:

 The school structure will ensure that the charter school will promote strong student performance in the targeted community.  The organizational plans are realistic and highly effective.  The organizational plans will result in a healthy, sustainable public school.

ORGANIZATIONAL PLANS Total Score: ______18

4. GOVERNANCE

The component should clearly explain how the governing board will function as a legal public entity using Fulton County taxpayer monies and serving Fulton County students, families and communities.

Check the appropriate rating for GOVERNANCE. An excellent petition will demonstrate the following standards:

 The governing board has ultimate decision making authority in all the areas defined by state law (personnel decisions, financial decisions, curriculum and instruction, resource allocation, establishing and monitoring the achievement of school improvement goals, and school operations).  The governing board structure promotes community involvement and will ensure student performance and transparent operations  The current and future development plans will promote the growth of the board as an organization over the term of the charter.  The governing board interview reflects members who authentically understand the educational concept, have a history in business and organizational excellence and can work together as a team to solve problems.

GOVERNANCE Total Score: ______19 5. FINANCIAL PLANS

The component should clearly explain how this charter school will function financially in order be sustainable and supply the resources required to fully implement the organization and academic plans.

Check the appropriate rating for FINANCIAL PLANS. An excellent petition will demonstrate the following characteristics:

 The financial plans ensure that the charter will be able to fully implement the academic and organizational plan.  Every opportunity to fully utilize available resources has been identified and are confirmed or operationalized.  Significant risks have been identified and concrete mitigation plans are in place.  The financial processes are realistic, transparent and highly effective.  The financial plans will result in a healthy, sustainable public school.

FINANCIAL PLANS Total Score: ______20 6. OPERATIONAL PLANS

The component should clearly explain how this charter school will perform the basic functions of a public school.

Check the appropriate rating for OPERATIONAL PLANS. An excellent petition demonstrates the following standards:

 The charter school’ s academic and financial plans are aligned to the anticipated student population.  The charter school’ s student discipline processes will result in successful remediation of behaviors that interfere with student achievement.  The charter school has a confirmed facility.  The charter school processes will ensure a safe, effective learning environment.

OPERATIONAL PLANS Total Score: ______