Every new charter school will need a Board of Trustees. Pre-Authorization planning teams will also need to demonstrate a strong plan for governance and organizational design before they are awared a charter from the authorizing agencies. This document helps those teams in assembling the Board.
The New York City Charter School Center has created this 3 part series on developing a Board of Trustees for new charter schools. This presentation shows how a school can develop academic and financial dashboards to help inform timely decision-making for school leaders and board members.
This white paper from Brian Carpenter of the National Charter Schools Institute examines some of the reasons why school boards can be dysfunctional.
This assessment matrix aids in the assessment of a Charter School Board's effectiveness. Leadership Roles, Board Composition, Meetings and Committees are graded in three levels: Strong, Satisfactory and Weak.
A “Friends of XYZ Charter School” organization is a separate, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation that is created to raise funds, awareness and otherwise support a charter school or the charter school movement. This white paper from the Lawyers Alliance for New York is a guide for any charter school who is thinking of establishing one.
The skills and dedication of the personnel who make up the founding charter school Board are essential for a new school's success. These resources will help schools recruit the right board members and get their new boards up and running.
Critical board building challenge: How does a charter school board clearly define its roles, responsibilities and philosophy of governance? Building an Effective Charter School Board is an extensive guidebook that covers every topic imaginable for new charter schools assembling a Board of Trustees for the first time.
Understanding the roles and responsibilities of board members is an important step in effective governance. These resources will help clarify what the board chair and other board members' roles are, and the characteristics to look for in candidates for particular positions.
Of all the decisions made by new Charter Schools, few are more important than
deciding whether to contract for school management services. Choosing well requires
balancing multiple considerations of finance, accountability, personnel, and public relations. This guidebook from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools provides evenhanded, user-friendly advice for those considering contracting for charter school management.
What is your school's mission? If you have to search through your handbook or you can't recall the entire lengthy statement, you probably aren't making the most of your school's mantra! This primer about Mission Statements is useful for new charter schools who are beginning the application process.
Typically evaluative by nature, teacher observation is usually linked to classroom performance. More and more schools, however, are using observation -- teachers observing teachers -- as a form of professional development that improves teaching practices and student performance. In this article, Education World's Michele Israel talks with experts about the benefits of this emerging professional development strategy.
