Will Pennsylvania Charter Schools Be Ranked Like D.C. Charters?

On December 6th, the D.C. Public Charter School Board (PCSB), the agency overseeing D.C. charter schools, introduced a rating system that ranks charter schools along three tiers of quality, and offers parents a more thorough assessment of school progress than annual performance reports.  The system, known as the "Performance Management Framework," will allow for charter schools to be assessed against a series of "leading" indicators that the PCSB considers to be predictors of future educational success.  Early childhood programs are largely exempt from the rankings.  In addition, as the focus is on educational achievement, the rankings will not address school governance or financial management.

The assessments will result in D.C.'s 53 charter schools to be divided into three tiers of performance-- based on student achievement, student progress over time, gateway measures for career planning and indicators of educational success such as attendance and numbers of 9th graders on track to graduate. According to the PCSB, the system was established to provide a "fair, complete picture of a school's overall performance using common indicators."  PCSB will use the performance data in considering whether to grant, deny or revoke a charter seeking renewal.  Schools in the first two tiers will be exempt from the on-site program development review conducted during the charter renewal process.    

The assessment tool is highly quantitative and awards the most points for schools showing overall student improvement.  Here is a link to the excel-based program for inputting the requested data: http://pcsb-pmf.wikispaces.com/file/detail/PMF+Calculator+%28School+Version%29+-Oct15.xlsx.

Pennsylvania charter schools should anticipate that school authorizers will begin to craft similar systems to quantify academic success and achievement.   Consequently, trustees and administrators would be wise to review the D.C. PCSB questions and become familiar with the scoring weights given by the PCSB.

This Charter School Alert was authored by Eric L. Silberstein, an attorney with Salvo Rogers & Elinski in Blue Bell, PA.  Mr. Silberstein, a member of Salvo Rogers & Elinski's Corporate and Real Estate Groups, has practiced law for 20 years and works closely with charter boards and administrators on governance, financing, special education, real estate, charter renewals and other charter matters.  Mr. Silberstein is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut.  He can be reached at (215) 653-0110 or esilberstein@salvorogers.com.  Salvo Rogers is a boutique law firm started in 1988 that is committed to providing high quality, personal service and cost effectiveness to clients pursuing business transactions, commercial real estate matters, and trusts and estates planning.

Please continue to follow other Pennsylvania charter school news of interest posted on my blog, "PA Charter School Law Forum:" pacharterlawforum.blogspot.com.  Your comments and suggestions are welcome.