Charter
Design/Drafting Tool Kit: Oregon. April 2006.
Designed specifically for Oregon charter school developers, this
Tool Kit provides sample documents to guide schools step by step
through a comprehensive charter school design and drafting process.
Design and drafting documents address how to develop an educational
program, governance and legal structure, staffing and administration
plan, facilities plan, and more. Sample documents include: a sample
charter proposal, "Suggested Criteria for a 'Good' Charter,"
and Memorandum of Understanding (Annual Operating Agreement),
as well as other key documents. (Cost: $49 non-members, $40
members).
"Start
Smart" Charter School Development Workshop Folder: Oregon.
October 2005.
These materials, developed for our October 2005 Charter School
Development Workshop, provide helpful planning documents for new
charter school developers. (Cost: $20 non-members, $12 members).
Charter
School Renewal Tool Kit: Oregon. December 2005.
This tool kit provides an overview of new (2005) charter
school renewal requirements, a timeline and overview of critical
renewal steps, and tips and strategies on data for examination
during the renewal process. It also provides both long-term strategies
and immediate-term planning to help charter schools and charter
sponsors prepare for renewal. The comprehensive documents in this
binder assist charter schools and sponsors in taking a critical
look at initial charter school designs and contracts, and reexamining
these documents in light of actual school operations. (Cost:
$49 non-members, $40 members)
Charter
School Governance Tool Kit. October 2005
This tool kit provides valuable legal and technical information
related to governing charter schools, as well as samples of foundation
and accountability documents. Key topics addressed include:
- Charter
school boards as public bodies (public meeting law, public records
law, public tort law, and other wise conducting productive board
meetings)
- Primary
board roles and responsibilities
- Effective
board practices
- Sound
relationships between the board and staff
- Board
self-assessment
- Stages
of board evolution
(Cost:
$49 non-members, $40 members).
Charter
Schools Serve Predominantly Minorities, Low Income Students.
According to the Center for Education Reform (CER), on November
19, 2004, the U.S. Department of Education released a study that
confirms that charter schools serve a disproportionate number
of low-income and minority students, or those students most likely
to be struggling in conventional public schools. Although it addresses
some student achievement data, it does not explore student progress
from year to year. Click
here to read the full copy of the report.
Hoxby
Achievement Study: A Straightforward Comparison of Charter Schools
and Regular Public Schools in the United States. Harvard
professor Caroline Hoxby released a thorough study of charter
school achievement that found charter schools outperforming nearby
traditional public schools in both reading and math. Unlike the
recent report issued by the AFT and published by the New York
Times, the Hoxby study was methodologically sound, controlling
for important factors that influence student achievement.
