NYC Charter Center Opens New Resource and Training
Center to Support City Charter Schools

"The decision by the Regents to expand the number of charter schools in New York City is welcome news for those of us who believe charter schools can help raise academic standards and drive innovation in the public school system," said Paula Gavin, Chief Executive Officer of NYC CCSE. "We applaud these schools, and pledge to help them and current charter schools achieve their academic goals by offering resources and "best-practices" models that will focus on quality and academic performance."

The Center and Washington-based CSLC are new independent, non-profit organizations dedicated to expanding the number of high-quality charter schools. While leaders of both organizations said more research, analysis and data are needed before any definitive conclusions can be reached on charter school performance, they said charter schools are making progress.

In fact, early indicators suggest that most charter schools in New York City are outperforming the community school districts in which they operate. Based on 2003-2004 results on standardized tests in grades 3-8, about 70 percent of the charter schools had a higher percentage of students who met or exceeded the New York State standards in English and Math compared to their community school district counterparts.

Nelson Smith, President of Washington-based CSLC, highlighted findings of a new national research review his organization commissioned which covered 38 rigorous studies from the past five years. Twenty-one of those studies looked at how charter students' test scores changed over time compared to students in nearby traditional public schools, widely considered the best way to measure school performance.

The report's author -- education researcher Bryan Hassel -- noted that while more research was clearly needed to draw definitive conclusions, the 21 change-based studies provided "encouraging" news:

• Nine found that overall gains in charter schools were larger than traditional public schools
• Three found charter schools' gains higher in certain significant categories of schools, such as elementary schools, high schools, or schools serving at-risk students;
• Six found comparable gains in charter and district schools; and,
• Only three found that charter schools' overall gains lagged behind.

"This report has done the education community, policymakers, and parents a valuable service by providing a much more complete picture of charter performance than we have gotten from recent highly-publicized studies," said Nelson Smith, the President of the recently-formed Charter School Leadership Council. "It shows strong progress, but also shows that we need to accelerate the drive toward higher quality in every charter school."

With that in mind, the CSLC recently launched a national campaign to focus the charter movement on the dual goals of quality and growth, starting with the appointment of a high-level Task Force on Quality and Accountability. "We want to leverage the experience and knowledge of the best people in this field to help us define and measure quality, identify the major barriers to it, and determine the best ways to promote and reward excellence as we spur expansion in the charter movement," said Smith.

Charter schools are independent public schools governed by their own not-for-profit Board of Directors and managed according to the terms of a multi-year contract or "charter." Charter schools are held accountable for meeting specific student performance goals as detailed in their charter. In return, charter schools are exempt from many public school regulations on curriculum, staffing and budget. There are currently 32 charter schools in New York City serving approximately 8,000 students.

What truly sets charter schools apart from traditional public schools is that they are held accountable to meet or exceed ambitious goals for student performance within five years or they risk the revocation of their charter to operate. In return, charter schools have the autonomy and flexibility to tailor their educational programs to meet the specific needs of their students.

Through grants, leveraging local and national "best-practices" and offering technical support, fundraising, training and other resources, the Center will focus its efforts on helping all NYC charter schools achieve academic and operational success. In 2005, approximately 15 to 25 new school leader "residents" are expected to utilize the Center's "incubation" space and take advantage of its resource library, web-based Guidebooks and training services in preparation for opening new charter schools.

The five charter schools approved on March 15 by the New York State Board of Regents are: KIPP Always Mentally Prepared Charter School in Brooklyn; KIPP Infinity Charter School in Washington Heights; two Achievement First Charter Schools in Brooklyn; and, Future Leaders Institute Charter School, which will be created through a conversion of an existing public school, and will be located in Harlem.

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