A New Option for School District Leaders Under NCLB
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starting starting 1 in low-performing schools fresh in low-performing schools fresh The Starting Fresh in Low-Performing Schools series provides district leaders with a blueprint for making deep and lasting change – the kind that is likely to lead to improvements in our most struggling schools. Presented in five parts, the Starting Fresh series honestly addresses the challenges of restruc- A New Option for turing low-performing schools. Through these books, districts learn both why and how to use the Start Fresh strategy successfully. School District Leaders under NCLB 1 A New Option for School District Leaders under NCLB 2 Engaging Parents and the Community 3 Selecting the Right Providers 4 Establishing the Right Relationship Terms 5 Collaborating with Teachers www.charterauthorizers.org M 5 | 6 0 / 3 National Association of A S Charter School Authorizers C A 105 W. Adams Street, Suite 1430 N 6 Chicago, IL 60603-6253 0 0 312.376.2300 2 © The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) is a nonprofit Dear School District Leader: membership association of educational agencies that approve and oversee public Today’s school district leaders face a growing list of challenges, not only to charter schools. ensure that their schools provide quality instruction, but to successfully man- NACSA’s mission is to achieve the establishment and operation of quality charter age employee relations, keep parents happy, administer finances wisely and suc- schools through responsible oversight in the public interest. We believe that quality cessfully navigate complex state and federal accountability systems. All of these authorizing plays a critical role in creating and sustaining quality charter schools. challenges come together and intensify when a school fails to make Adequate A quality charter school is characterized by high student achievement, financial Yearly Progress (AYP) under No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) for five years and stewardship, and responsible governance and management. Charter schools can the district must develop and implement a plan for “Restructuring” the school. improve public education by creating greater educational opportunities for students To date, schools around the country are only beginning to reach “restructuring.” and educators and greater educational accountability for public schools. Initial reviews suggest that most district leaders, when considering the five NACSA BOARD OF DIRECTORS restructuring options available under NCLB, are choosing “Other” instead of implementing more aggressive options1 , such as contracting with a school Josephine Baker (Chairperson) District of Columbia Public Charter School Board management company to operate the school or reopening the school as a public James Merriman (Vice Chairperson) State University of New York charter school. While choosing “Other” may make sense for some reasons, one James Goenner (Treasurer) Central Michigan University of those reasons probably isn’t because “Other” provides the best mechanism Jennifer Rippner (Secretary) Office of the Governor, Georgia Bill Andrekopoulos Milwaukee (WI) Public Schools for creating a powerful, enduring, quality school. Indeed “Other” often looks a Dennis Doyle Chula Vista (CA) Elementary School District lot like incremental school improvement strategies that have already been tried James Peyser Massachusetts Board of Education and failed at the very same schools. Carlo Rodriguez Miami-Dade County (FL) Public Schools Justin Testerman Volunteers of America of Minnesota What’s a school district leader to do? The National Association of Charter Greg Richmond (ex-officio) National Association of Charter School Authorizers School Authorizers (NACSA) suggests that you seriously consider all of the powerful tools that are available under Restructuring. Because we specialize in the profession of approving charter schools and developing, overseeing and NACSA STAFF enforcing performance-based contracts with such schools, we particularly Greg Richmond President suggest that you evaluate how “reopening as a charter school”or “entering into Michael R. Cernauskas, CPA Chief Operating Officer a contract with an entity to operate the public school” may be your best John S. Ayers Vice President for Communications options, not only to improve instruction and student performance, but also Rebecca Cass Director, National Activities to increase parental happiness, empower your teachers and successfully meet Brian Bennett Director, Western Region Shenita Johnson Garrard Director, Central Region the demands of state and federal accountability systems. Elizabeth Genco Program Support Manager But even if you choose one of these more aggressive options it doesn’t guaran- Mary Zawaski Executive Assistant tee success. Simply changing the name “Kennedy Middle School” to “Kennedy William Haft Senior Associate Middle Charter School” will do absolutely nothing to increase student perform- Margaret Lin Senior Associate Otho Tucker Senior Associate ance. Likewise, entering into a contract with an outside provider that has no authority to make changes to Kennedy’s instructional approach, curriculum, staffing, management structures, and budget is extremely unlikely to bring STARTING FRESH ADVISORY PANEL about academic improvements. Thus, even when districts choose to use these Gene Eidelman Mosaica Education aggressive restructuring options they must use them correctly and enable the Carolyn Finch Polk County Public Schools (FL) kinds of dramatic changes envisioned by NCLB. We believe that in order for Libia Gil American Institute Research this to work, districts must allow restructured schools to start fresh. David Lin Chicago Public Schools Colin Miller California Charter School Association School district leaders face a growing list of challenges. Starting fresh is not the Paul O’Neill Edison Schools right tool in every circumstance, but it may be the right tool for you. Mike Ronan Lighthouse Academies Todd Ziebarth National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Sincerely, starting Greg Richmond, President 1 fresh in low-performing schools A New Hope for Our Most Challenging Schools The 2005-06 school year started in early September at San Diego’s Gompers Middle School, just like it had for the past 50 years. Well, not exactly. On that Tuesday, California’s governor was on hand to welcome back the students, along with his secretary of education, the chancellor of school year, the school hired a dynamic new leader who remains at the the University of California at San Diego, the superintendent of schools, helm. But Gompers started the 2005-06 school year with just about every- the president of the local Urban League, and a host of other dignitaries. thing else new – and we are not talking about just the paint on the walls. The school grounds were spruced up, thanks to hours of painting, remod- Seventy-five percent of the staff is new, and all of them chose to teach at eling and cleaning over the summer by parents and community members. Gompers rather than being assigned there. For the first time in the build- The school literally rolled out a red carpet for the school’s 1,000 seventh ing’s history, there were no teacher vacancies on the first day of classes. to ninth graders, almost all of whom were from low-income families. In a newly established partnership with University of California at San The fresh start at Gompers had deep and wide Diego (UCSD), the school is replicating the UCSD’s highly successful support, from teachers all the way to the Governor. Preuss School, a charter school that opened in 1999. Like Preuss and Most importantly, it had strong support from parents. other high-performing middle schools around the country, Gompers will have a longer school day, uniforms, and a clear expectation that all stu- dents will go on to college after high school. As part of the partnership Why all the fuss? Gompers and its local school district – San Diego with UCSD, Gompers students will have access to the University’s Unified – are on the leading edge of a new strategy for improving chroni- resources. University students will serve as tutors. And University cally low-performing schools, a strategy known as “starting fresh.” Last teachers will train Gompers faculty. year, fewer than 20% of Gompers students were proficient in language arts and math, ranking the school as one of the lowest performing schools in Across the country in Lakeland, Florida, Seth McKeel Middle School was the district. Years of improvement efforts had failed. The federal No Child one of Polk County’s lowest performing middle schools when the district Left Behind Act said the district had to do something significant to turn converted it to a choice school and then to a charter school. After this the school around. But what? “fresh start,” it’s one of the highest rated middle-high schools, typically earning As in Florida’s accountability system. Like Gompers is seeking to Spurred by strong demand from parents and community members, the do, McKeel transformed itself into a high-performing technology academy school board agreed in March to enable the school to restructure and by essentially building a new school from scratch within the walls of the “start fresh” as Gompers Charter Middle School. During the 2004-05 old middle school. This “fresh-start” school leveraged district and state resources to transform the facility, purchase technology and train teachers, as well as reached an agreement with the teacher’s union to reconstitute the 2 starting 3 fresh in low-performing schools The Challenge staff. McKeel has since gone on to launch a high-performing elementary school with a similar focus. Parents are clamoring to get in: the two schools had a combined waiting list of more than 2,000 in spring 2005. McKeel’s start fresh leveraged resources and enabled an agreement with the teacher's union to Decades of well-intended reforms – including curriculum changes, reconstitute the school's staff. increased funding and professional development – have produced disap- pointing outcomes for many students. While some children have benefited from these initiatives, numerous reforms have offered promise without State and district leaders across the U.S.