For those of you who were present at the 10th annual charter schools conference, you heard us talk about launching a new data mapping portion of our website as well as the beginning of crafting a certification program through WCSA.
These two announcements were met with some resistance, not surprisingly. We recognize that the climate in WI is such that Charter Schools would rather keep their heads down and continue to do the good work they do, in isolation than take the risk of raising their heads and being noticed as a whole movement. The mentality currently is “if one of our neighboring charter schools faces trouble, well, at least it isn’t us.” But we want to move to a community of schools that stand up for each other and demand accountability from each other. How do we get there?
We believe we can achieve this only through a charter school specific assessment and certification program. But we also believe that this has to come from you all- from the schools.
So, as we begin work on this, I urge you all to send me your thoughts. Think about and try to answer these questions:
- What does accurate assessment look like for charter schools?
- What kinds of things should be ‘measured’ to determine if a school is meeting quality standards?
- How can we as a movement begin to influence the DPI’s phasing out of the WKCE and what will replace it?
Leave you thoughts here, or send them to me at sgranofsky@wicharterschools.org
