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Charter school authorizing begins with a bargain for performance. Authorizers agree to entrust a charter school’s governing board with public dollars and public school students and to give it broad autonomy over how it achieves agreed-upon goals. In return, the school’s board commits to achieving specified results, managing public funds responsibly, complying with its legal obligations, and providing a quality education to the students in its care. In order for this bargain of autonomy in exchange for accountability to work, it is essential that authorizers establish, maintain, and enforce high performance standards for all schools in their portfolios.

 

This includes not only holding schools accountable for the academic performance of all of their students, which should always be the primary measure of quality, but also holding schools accountable for financial and organizational performance. Building on the course: “Performance Contracting: Developing Strong Charter School Contracts,” this course will assist authorizers in developing a rigorous Performance Framework that includes academic, financial, and organizational performance measures for use by schools and authorizers to establish expectations, guide practice, assess progress, and inform decision making over the course of the charter term and at renewal or revocation.

See also:
Core Performance Framework and Guidance

View our 2012 Conference Session:
Performance Management: Authorizers and Academic Accountability