If you were coaching a mixed squad of marathoners and newly rehabilitated runners, would you want their race results to be averaged and people to say your team can, “at best keep up” with the other guys? I don’t think so.

In a May 2, 2011 Texas Tribune article by Reeve Hamilton, Texas charter school performance for both our schools in standard and alternative accountability systems were lumped together and compared with the traditional school system. Lumping data sets without explanation can lead to although numerically true, not entirely candid, conclusions.  

When comparing open-enrollment Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test passage rate for standard accountability charter schools to standard accountability traditional schools – charter school districts are OUTPERFORMING traditional school districts in every single subject, from the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade in the critical areas of reading, math, science and social studies.

This point is made on page 163, table 13.3, of the 2010 Comprehensive Annual Report on Texas Public Schools which describes the status of Texas public education, as required by §39.332 of the Texas Education Code. The report was prepared for the 82nd legislature and is available on the Texas Education Agency (TEA) website.

If you come away with one thing from this blog – charter schools are unique from each other. Mainly, they can be evaluated under two accountability systems: either standard accountability or alternative education accountability (AEA). Beyond accountability, charter schools widely vary in terms of mission. They may focus on college preparation, a specialized mission like arts or math & science, some are dropout recovery schools, and others are residential treatment centers or juvenile justice centers.

You may not know, but almost 40% of Texas charter schools are registered for evaluation under Alternative Education Accountability (AEA) procedures because they are serving a majority of very at-risk students. The criteria for determining if a student is at-risk can be found here and the full technical definition of AEA can be found here.

We think this type of charter schools serves a profound and immense need in Texas. TCSA is proud to support this type of school and watch them prosper.  During the 2009-2010 school year, this type of school graduated over 2000 students – that’s 2,000 more paths paved.  Most have overcome major obstacles that their peers may never understand, and well over one-third of the students in the AEA system arrive back to school over the age of 18.

We hope that forthcoming data analysis on school performance will take into account the separate accountability systems so there can be a clear understanding of our performance. Gathering, analyzing, and ultimately reporting on data sorted by accountability systems will help administrators, regulators and lawmakers isolate concerns and render prompt and practical solutions about public education moving forward.

Josie Duckett
TCSA Vice President Public & Government Affairs

Chris Busse, VP Quality Initiatives and Telca Karen Porras, Quality Initiatives Senior Advisor present and discuss the Quality Framework this week at the NACSA lunchtime Learning Lab session in Scottsdale Arizona. Participants included charter authorizers, researchers, and state association staff members from around the country.

David Dunn, TCSA Executive Director, Chris Busse, TCSA VP for Quality Initiatives, and I attended the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona this week. Our goals for attending the conference included gaining additional national perspective on what’s happening in the charter school movement and sharing the development process and status of TCSA Quality Framework. Of course, state leaders from support organizations and authorizers have been gathering for years to share and learn from each other, but this week’s experience with sharing the Quality Framework reminded me of a somewhat informal meeting of national charter support organizations many years ago. We discussed many things relevant at the time—the state of the movement, advocacy, and, of course, how best to support charters. But this issue led to more questions than answers: What is a quality charter school?

Almost a decade since that discussion, the movement has matured quite significantly. The number of charter schools in the country has grown, some charters are now approaching twenty years of experience and success, and most states have developed or adopted quality standards for charter schools. Though standards are in place, determining how to move from defining quality to improving quality is still an issue. As we pilot the TCSA Quality Framework process, national organizations are becoming increasingly interested in the quality initiative happening in Texas. Our session participants at the NACSA conference included authorizers, researchers, and state association staff members. They had many questions: How does the Quality Framework ensure that the school maintains its autonomy? How does the Framework match up with the charter and authorizer requirements? What happens next in Texas?

We discussed with them that Texas has built upon and added to the body of work around defining charter school quality with the development of the TCSA Quality Framework. We shared with them our belief that the Texas Quality Framework is unique in at least three ways: its depth and breadth regarding both academic and operational aspects of quality, the level of charter leader involvement in building the Framework, and the Framework’s independence from the authorizer standards. We explained that that the Framework is intended to ensure autonomy as it is designed to help schools identify for themselves, for example, that a process is in place, not how to implement that process. If a school seeks guidance on how, TCSA will work to connect schools with solutions, tools, and resources. In this way, Texas charter schools will move from defining quality to improving quality.

In many states, the authorizer adopts standards and holds charter schools accountable for quality. We explained that in Texas, the state is the sole authorizer for open-enrollment charter schools. The Quality Framework, though it may align or run parallel in some areas, is wholly independent of accountability systems the state has in place. In Texas, the Quality Framework provides a way for charter leaders to hold themselves accountable for quality. From start to finish—from development of the Framework itself to solutions based on member-defined areas for continuous improvement—TCSA members will define and improve the quality of charter schools in Texas.

We also shared that a third of member schools are currently in some stage of piloting the process, beginning with completion of a self-evaluation based on the Framework. Additional members are now being sought for a 2nd cohort, and a member-defined, onsite review pilot process is next. Access to and support for school-identified tools and resources will then follow. Some participants requested updates as we move along in the process and a final question was this: Can we get a copy of the Framework to use at our organizations? Our response: Of course we’re happy to share once the tool and process are refined. (But our schools come first.) : )

We just got back to Texas from Chicago after attending the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools Conference. What a great reminder of the amazing work going on across the country – and of what an important role we’re playing here in the Lone Star state. We had many charter leaders attending from Texas and several TCSA members participating in conference breakout sessions to share their best practices with the other 4000+ attendees. Texas was highlighted by both Bill Gates and Secretary Duncan who held up KIPP and YES Prep as shining examples of charters leading their students to incredible levels of success. What a pleasure to represent such a great group of schools doing such amazing things for the students of Texas!

While I never tire of hearing how extraordinary Texas is, it was also inspiring to see firsthand so many like-minded colleagues from across America tackling similar tough issues that we face here. Innovation and Quality were the focus areas of the conference, two things we take seriously here in Texas. While we have both in large supply, we don’t have a monopoly, and it was terrific to hear the work others are doing. We learned about other states’ quality initiatives, data analysis practices, member services, dropout recovery success measures, and so much more. All of us at TCSA took away countless ideas that we can incorporate into our practices to accelerate our impact for on the charter movement.

The 2011 conference will be in Atlanta and I believe Texas can play an even bigger role next year. Imagine the best practices and success stories we’ll be ready to share by then!