The Charter School Conversion Roadmap
Table of Contents
Preface
Writing the Application
Understandings
Stage One: Critical Conversations
Critical Conversation 1: What makes our school unique?
Critical Conversation 2: What is our school’s educational philosophy?
Critical Conversation 3: What qualities do we value in our teachers?
Critical Conversation 4: What does learning look like in our classrooms?
Critical Conversation 5: How is our philosophy guiding our work with at risk students?
Critical Conversation 6: What qualities do we value in our instructional leaders?
Critical Conversation 7: How do we hold ourselves accountable?
Critical Conversation 8: Based on the above critical conversations, what is our school mission statement?
Critical Conversation 9: Based on the above critical conversations, what governance structure can best support our mission and program?
Stage Two: Network workshops
Workshop One: Board Development
Workshop Two: Institutional Partnerships
Workshop Three: Curriculum
Workshop Four: Finance
Workshop Five: School Facilities
Workshop Six: Operations and Policies
Workshop Seven: Getting a “YES” on the mandated parent vote
Stage Three: Technical Writing
Technical Writing Task One: Setting Protocols
Technical Writing Task Two: Applicant Information
Technical Writing Task Three: Completing the Executive Summary
Technical Writing Task Four: Charter Goals
Technical Writing Task Five: Student Enrollment
Technical Writing Task Six: Special Populations
Technical Writing Task Seven: School Characteristics
Technical Writing Task Eight: Governance Structure and Organizational Design
Technical Writing Task Nine: Support of Parent, Staff, Community Stakeholders
Technical Writing Task Ten: Operational Impact
Technical Writing Task Eleven: Budget
Technical Writing Task Twelve: Curriculum
Stage Four: Assembly
Compile Section I: Applicant information.
Compile Section II:Executive Summary
Compile Section III: Capacity
Compile Section IV: Conversion Plan
Compile Section VI: Goals
Compile Section VII: Educational Program
Compile Section VIII: Governance Structure and Organizational Design
Compile Section IX: Personnel
Compile Section X: Community Support
Compile Section XI: Financial Management Plan
Compile Section XII: School Facilities
Compile Section XIII: Operations and Policies
Compile Section XIV: Operational Impact/ Dissolution
Compile Section XVI: Institutional Partnership Agreement
Appendix One: Applicant Information
Appendix Two: New York City Charter Application, Word Version
Appendix Three: Performance Goals Template
Appendix Four: Exhibit H, Curriculum To Standards Crosswalk
Appendix Five: Board Questionnaire
Appendix Six: Operational and Fiscal Impact of Charter School
Appendix Seven: Technical Assistance and Resources for Charter School Applicants
Preface
This manual is written for people who are determined to create a charter school based on Education for Global Citizenship (EGC) as its core value.
Why a charter school for EGC? EGC, as defined by EdGloCit’s framework, does not live exclusively in the curriculum; rather, it must be lived and silently conveyed by the school community. An element of deep respect must pervade the faculty and then must extend outward to relationships with students and parents. Every student must feel cared for and known. It is very rare to find these values in large public schools. Charter schools, however, have the freedom to select a size and shape that can support care.
This manual is aligned to New York City’s 2009 Department of Education Application. Applications vary in each state that has a charter school law; within a state there are often different authorizers with their unique applications. Regardless, the meticulous task of charter-writing should center on defining vision, mission, and enduring values.
This manual hence starts with the marrow of vision and then proceeds in an intuitive fashion to cover other aspects of a charter application. Because EGC is a value premised on community, the manual assumes that the charter-writing will be done by a community of writers. The members of the committee, through the arduous task of charter-writing, will deepen their vibrancy, trust, and communication.
In addition, the charter-writing committee should build relationships with similar committees of applicants and support organizations. Such work helps strengthen the larger charter community. Several of the exhibits can be completed more easily in workshops with other applicants. Various organizations such as the New York City Charter Center and the New York State Charter Association can assist with this process. Applicants may also wish to negotiate with Educational Management Organizations (EMOs) to see whether their services merit their costs.
Although the charter conversion process may seem daunting but the end result is a 60-page narrative and accompanying exhibits. This roadmap leads you through these steps together with your colleagues. When the process is completed you will have an almost-ready charter school application.
Writing the Application
The Charter School Conversion Manual (“Manual”) is designed to supplement the New York City Department of Education Charter School Application (page 51).With an intuitive step-by-step design that starts from core issues and then fans out to deal with the more complicated and technical aspects of the application, the Manual recognizes and builds on your impressive track record as a school.
We hope that after the exhaustive experiences of building of your school, you will find the charter-writing process to be a time to celebrate your accomplishments and proves to be a thrilling and renewing task.
The Manual breaks the charter-writing is broken down into four stages of work:
•Stage One: Critical Conversations. This is the most important aspect of charter writing and the entire staff should be involved in discussing the heart of the application. The Manual breaks this work into nine critical conversations to clarify: “What is our vision? What are our goals? What is our instructional program? How do we ensure that all students will be successful learners? How do we hold ourselves accountable? How do we create a leadership structure to support us?”
•Stage Two: Network workshops. Join together with other schools to run seven workshops on parts of the application that require financial and legal expertise. In addition, work together with other schools to jointly develop “Curriculum to Standards Crosswalk” (Exhibit H), arguably the most formidable component of the application, which outlines your school’s curriculum and aligns them to New York State Learning Standards. In order to facilitate this very comprehensive task, work with other schools to contribute best practices in order to assemble a Joint Proprietary Curriculum (Exhibit I) which schools can sign-on to and modify.
•Stage Three: Technical Writing. Now that a strong consensus has been formed about the purpose and form of the charter school, committees and/or individuals can fashion the understandings into the technical format of the Application. Work together with other schools to pool ideas, suggested language, and a menu of choices in the workshops.
•Stage Four: Assembly. Each school should appoint an Application Secretary to help coordinate and assemble all responses. Work together with other applicants to pool the various pieces of the application into an integrated narrative and set of exhibits that can be submitted to the Office of Charter Schools.
We want you to derive enjoyment and value from completing this task. The best of luck on writing a wonderful application.
Understandings
There are several key understandings about charter schools that are worth stating for the reassurance of the key people writing the charter application:
(1)Whereas the New York State charter law mandates that a parent vote is necessary to approve a charter conversion, it is recommended that staff must also have a consensus in the decision of whether or not to convert.
(2)All teachers and paraprofessionals of charter conversion schools remain members of the United Federation of Teachers; DC 37 employees remain members of DC 37 and all provisions of their contracts remain intact. Supervisors are eligible to write school-specific contracts with the Council of Supervisors and Administrators.
(3)Teachers and supervisors remain members of the Teachers Retirement System (TRS). DC 37 employees remain members of Board of Education Retirement System (BERS).
(4)Teachers have a “right to return” to the DoE for a period of two years.
(5)Think out-of-the-box, think big. The charter can be written in a way to provide expanded professional opportunities not available in traditional schools including new roles for educators.
(6)The charter can be written to include school self-determination about calendar schedules, professional development, and before/after/weekend/summer school opportunities as well as opportunities for telecommuting.
(7)The charter can be written to include expanded back office staff to assure speedy processing of payrolls, per session, salary increments, and initial payroll for new teachers.
(8)Conversion schools can opt to revert back to the Department of Education.
Indexing of Charter Manual to Charter Application
Starting Points:Manual / Application
Consensus and support from Critical Conversation Nine (Page
I. Applicant Information / 49 / 64
II. Executive Summary / 7, 16, 17, 31 / 65
III. Capacity / 19 / 66
IV. Conversion Plan / 9, 38. / 68
V. Private School Conversion / N/A / N/A
Part 2: How Will Your School Be an Academic Success?
VI. Goals / 10 / 71
VII. Educational Program / 10 / 72
Part 3: How Will Your School Be a Viable Organization?
VIII. Governance Structure and Organizational Design / 17 / 79
IX. Personnel / 11, 14 / 81
X. Community Support / 38 / 82
XI. Financial Management Plan / 23 / 83
Part 4: How Will Your School Comply with Applicable Laws and Regulations?
XII. School Facilities / 25 / 86
XIII. Operations and Policies / 26 / 88
Part 5: Miscellaneous
XIV. Operational Impact/Dissolution / 40 / 92
XV. Institutional Partnership Agreement / 21 / 93
Exhibits
Exhibit A: Resumes / 19 / 66
Exhibit B: Board Questionnaires / 44 / 67
Exhibit C: Track Record / 88 / 67
Exhibit D: School Information / 21 / 67
Exhibit E: Institutional Partner Value-Added Achievement / 21 / 67
Exhibit F: School Progress Reports / 39 / 68
Exhibit G: Consensus and Support / 39 / 68
Exhibit H: Curriculum to Standards Crosswalk / 5, 22 / 73
Exhibit I: Curricula / 5, 22 / 73
Exhibit J: Curriculum and Instruction Model / 12 / 73
Exhibit K: Bylaws / 20 / 79
Exhibit L: Code of Ethics / 20 / 80
Exhibit M: Evaluation Tools for Staff and Institutional Partner / 11 / 80
Exhibit N: Job Descriptions / 14 / 81
Exhibit O: Parent Petition of Support / 38 / 82
Exhibit P: Letters of Community Support / 39 / 82
Exhibit Q: Start-up and Five-year Operating Budget / 23 / 83
Exhibit R: Budget Narrative / 23 / 83
Exhibit S: Institutional Partnership Agreement / 21 / 93
Stage One: Critical Conversations
The most difficult work in completing the charter application lies in determining and articulating the unique qualities of your school. We are suggesting that you undertake a series of “critical conversations” to identify these qualities and express them in succinct form. These conversations can take place in whole faculty conversations or in committees. The products of these conversations will later be fitted into key segments of the Application.The National School Reform Faculty ( has established an array of “protocols” that can help facilitate your school’s critical conversations. A catalogue of these protocols can be found at
Critical Conversation 1: What makes our school unique?
/ Projected time to complete / Link to applicationThere are three “overarching questions” in the charter application:
- How will your school be an academic success?
- How will your school be a viable organization?
- How will your school comply with applicable laws and regulations?
entire staff
Condense this discussion into a 1-2 page summary. Provide a description of the school’s background. Please include the type of school (elementary, middle, secondary), student enrollment, andevidence that describes the school’s successful track record. / IV.1
Critical Conversation 2: What is our school’s educational philosophy?
Based on Critical Conversation 1, describe your school’s instructional methods, philosophy, and goals. The goals must beambitious,measurable,and attainable,andmustreflectyoureducationalphilosophyand goals. Condense this discussion into a one page summary. / 1/2 PD day forentire staff / VII.1
VI.1
Reviewerswilllookforaneducationaldesignthatreflectsthefollowingcharacteristics:
•Well thought-out educational program that will likely result in academic success for ALL students
•Standards-based,academicallyrigorouscurriculum
•Highacademicexpectationsandstrategiesforthefullrangeofstudentsservedbytheschool,including thoseatriskofacademicfailure
•Useofresearch-basedinstructionalmodelsandmethods
•Engagingandauthenticinstructionalstrategies
•Teachersempoweredinamannerthatpromotesstudentsuccess
•Connectionsbetweenclassroomlearningandthecommunity.
The next four Critical Conversations (3-6) should be carried out by committees in the morning. Committees should report back to the whole staff in the afternoon. The afternoon should conclude with the entire staff addressing Critical Conversation 7.
Critical Conversation 3: What qualities do we value in our teachers?
/ 1/2 PD day for a committeeWe will probe this question by answering one Application question: “Describetheattributes,skillsandcharacteristicsthat youwillseekoutinteachercandidates foryourschool.” (1paragraph) / VII.7.a
This conversation is revisited and further probed in a later section of the Application: “Describethehiringpoliciesandproceduresoftheschooltobeused,andthequalificationstobe considered,in thehiringofteachersDescribetheattributesand qualifications that youwillseekoutinteachers.Whatmechanismsandvenueswillyourschoolutilizetorecruit effectiveteachers?Howwillyouensurethat yourteacherrecruitmenttargetsa universeof candidatesthat alignswithyourschool’smissionandculture?” (3 paragraphs) / IX.9.a
Your answers above provide important insights. But what would they look like in practice? Please describe the evaluation process you will use for teachers? (1 paragraph) What type of evaluation tool would you use? (Write out a specific 1 page tool). What is the rationale for this tool? / Exhibit M
VIII.8
IX.1.c
Describeyourschool’splantoprovideteacherswith theenrichment,training,toolsfor improvement,and opportunitiesforcollaborationandcommunication.Yourplanforteachertraining should discuss,asrelevant, pre-openingtrainingthe schoolmayrequire,aswellasplansforteacherenrichmentonanongoingbasis once the school isinoperation. / VII.7.b
Includea sampleagendaofcontentfor teacherenrichmentthat mayberequiredinadvance ofschoolopeninginthefall. / VII.7.c
Teacher induction. Describeyourfirst-yearteacherenrichmentpriorities.Discussspecificstructuresthat willbe put inplace tosupportteachers and facilitatetheirsuccessindrivingstudentprogress. / VII.7.c
Critical Conversation 4: What does learning look like in our classrooms?
/ 1/2 PD day for a committeeCurriculum map. Great instruction has a “look/feel” that is grounded on a purposeful curriculum. For the highest grade level in your school, providea curriculum mapforone curriculumunitinonesubject. ACurriculumMapis astructurethatmanyeducatorsusetoorganizetheir thinkingaboutcurriculumwithinindividualcoursesandthroughouta schoolcommunity. Categoriesin curriculummapsmayinclude,but arenotlimitedto:EssentialQuestions, Standards,Assessments,SkillsandContentKnowledge,andMajorProjects.[1] / Exhibit J
Sample Unit and Lesson Plan: Design the instructional model that teachers in the school will use and provide a sample unit and a sample lesson or project plan that represents the kind of teaching and learning you would like to see in the school. / Exhibit J
Assessment: Design an assessment and a rubric that will show students’ level of mastery on the task described in the unit or project above. The assessment should be reflective of the kind of task that students will be expected to do in order to graduate from the school. / Exhibit J
DifferentiatedInstruction:Redesignthesampleunit, lessonplanand/orassessment in Critical Conversation 4,focusingonsupportsforspecialeducation,EnglishLanguageLearners, and/orstudentswhoscoreda Level1or2onpromotionaltests. (Coordinate with Critical Conversation 5) / Exhibit J
Critical Conversation 5: How is our philosophy guiding our work with at risk students?
/ 1/2 PD day for a committeeDescribemethods,strategiesand/orprogramsformeetingtheneedsofstudentsat-riskof academicfailures.Includeanydiagnosticmethodsorinstrumentsthat willbeusedtoidentifyand assessthosestudentswhoareperformingbelowgradelevelaswellasthe processes/programs/toolstobeusedin providingthemwith remedialinstruction. Ifyouareusingaschooldesign/modelpleasedescribethedemonstrated effectivenessofthemodel(performancedata,research-basedevidence),thedemandfor thisschool/modeland howcloselyyourprogramwillreplicatethismodel. / VII.1.c
Besurethat yourresponsedescribesthestrategy(beyondlegalrequirements) youwouldusetoensurethat SpecialEducationstudentswillhavewaystoimprove theirskillsandaccesscurricularcontent. / VII.5
AdescriptionofthespeciallanguageinstructionalprogramtobeprovidedtoLEPsthat is designedtoteachEnglish,aswellasgeneralcurriculumand whowillcoordinatethiseffort. / VII.5
Appropriate evaluative standards for measuring the linguistic and academic progress of LEP students, including program exit criteria. / VII.5
Besuretoaddresshow teacherswillknoworbetrainedinappropriatestrategiesforELL andspecialeducation students. / VII.7
DifferentiatedInstruction:Redesignthesampleunit, lessonplanand/orassessment in Critical Conversation 4 (coordinate with the committee working on this),focusingonsupportsforspecialeducation,EnglishLanguageLearners, and/orstudentswhoscoreda Level1or2onpromotionaltests. / Exhibit J
Critical Conversation 6: What qualities do we value in our instructional leaders?
/ 1/2 PD day for a committeeDescribehowinstructionaldecisionswillbemadeinyourschool.Whowillparticipateandwhat aretheirroles? / VII.1
Describethehiringpoliciesandproceduresoftheschooltobeused,andthequalificationstobe considered,inthehiringofschooladministratorsand otherschoolemployees. Describetheattributesandqualificationsthat you willseekoutineachofthesepositions.What mechanismsandvenueswillyourschoolutilizetorecruiteffectiveschoolleadersandkey administrativestaff?Howwillyouensurethat yourrecruitmenttargetsauniverseofcandidates that alignswith yourschool’smissionandculture? / IX.1
What tools will you use to evaluate school leaders? / Exhibit M
Pleaseprovidejobdescriptionsforeachindividual who works outside of the classroom. Are the rolesandresponsibilitiesforfaculty,staffandadministrators well-delineatedandstrategically-allocated? / Exhibit N
Critical Conversation 7: How do we hold ourselves accountable?
/ 1/2 PD day forentire staff
Reviewerswilllookforthefollowinginassessmentplans:
•Acommitmentbytheproposedschooltoholditselfaccountableforresults
•Clear,rigorous,measurableanddata-drivenindicatorsofprogress,includingforsupplementaleducational andnon-educationalgoals
•Studentlearningmeasuredwithmultipleformsofassessmentsandmetrics,includingdata-drivenindicators,thatwillgleamacomprehensivepictureof schoolprogress
•Assessmentsthatalignwiththeschool’sculture of continuousimprovement,thatreflecttheschool’s emphasisonaccountabilityforstudentlearning,thatshapeandinforminstructiononanongoingbasis, andforwhichasolidrationaleisprovided
•Summativeandformativeassessmentresultsthatareusedtogaugestudent/teacher/schoolprogress.
•Goalsthatreflecttheuniquemissionoftheschool
Describehowteachersorteamsof teacherswillbemadeaccountableforstudentresults.Describe theroleoftheprincipalinthis. / VII.3.a
Describehowyourschoolwilluseongoingassessmentdata todrivetheinstructionalprogram. / VII.3.b
Providea chartdescribingtheassessmentsthat yourschoolwilluse,bothformativeand summative. Assessmentsmustalignwith anymeasurementsreferredtointheGoalssectionof yourapplication(VI.Goals). Providethedatesormonthsthattheassessmentswillbegiven. / VII.3.c
Describetherationaleforselectionofassessments.Forexample,ifyouadoptgoalsbasedon studentassessmentsotherthan NewYorkCityandStatetests(e.g.TerraNova),pleaseexplain whyyourschoolselectedtheseassessments. / VII.3.d
Describe your school’s promotion requirements for each grade. If your school plans to serve the 12th grade you must provide the summative requirements for a diploma. / VII.3.e
Critical Conversation 8: Based on the above critical conversations, what is our school mission statement?
/ School Ldrshp Team Retreat AMBased on the above conversations, succinctly statethemissionofyourproposedcharterschool.Yourmissionstatementshould beambitious,measurable,and attainable,andmustreflectyoureducationalphilosophyand goals. Missionstatementshouldnotexceedthreetofivesentencesinlength. / II.1
Goals: List your school’s performance commitments, or goals, for which your proposed charter school will be held accountable. These goals should reflect an intention to improve student learning and achievement and increase educational opportunities for all children. (1/2 page) / II.2