Eva Moskowitz (the founder and CEO of the Success Charter Network in Harlem) and Arin Lavinia offer practical, classroom-tested ideas for dramatically improving teaching and learning. Moskowitz and Lavinia reveal how a charter school in the middle of Harlem, enrolling neighborhood children selected at random, emerged as one of the top schools in…

Along with national standards, charter schools are one of the most significant forces in education reform today. To their proponents, charter schools are revolutionary forces that help bring public education to world-class standards of quality. To skeptics, however, these forces threaten to undermine, or even destroy, this country's 150-year old…

Family-school partnerships are increasingly touted as a means of improving both student and school improvement. This recognition has led to an increase in policies and initiatives that offer the following benefits: improved communication between parents and educators; home and school goals that are mutually supportive and shared; better…

As the charter-school option has expanded across the country, contracting for educational management services is an increasingly available and attractive choice for charter-school governing boards and founding groups. To make contractual relationships work well, charter-school boards need to strike an effective balance between fulfilling their…

This manual provides information to help charter schools navigate the facility development process, including worksheets that can be customized to suit a particular school's needs. Sections cover how facility planning fits into business planning for charter schools, review a process for assessing a school's facility needs, and summarize how to…

In 1991, the charter school movement began in Minnesota and since then, 28 more states and the District of Columbia have passed similar versions of charter school law. This paper examines a facility planning model designed to help charter schools maximize their chances of succeeding in the effort to secure permanent facilities. The model includes…

This report is a general guide for people planning a charter school. In September 1995 the Program on Reinventing Public Education, a collaborative effort of the University of Washington's Institute for Public Policy and Management and the RAND Institute for Education and Training, sponsored a workshop on charter school startup. This report…

This guide is intended to help current and prospective charter school leaders decide whether and how to work with pre-existing "whole school designs." Such school designs range from those that cover one core element of school operations to designs covering almost every aspect of school operations. The guide contains initial information…

In the early 1970s, pessimism about public education in the United States was on the rise. To counter this outlook, researchers held a conference to identify public schools that were humane, caring, and effective, and from this conference arose a heightened awareness of alternative schools and their place in education. Subsequent years of…

Locating and financing educational facilities is a significant challenge facing many charter schools. This report outlines five options state policymakers can pursue to enable charter schools to gain access to suitable, high-quality facilities. The five options addressed are: creating new revenue streams for facilities cost; giving charter schools…

This guidebook provides charter schools with ideas when seeking financing, and touches on the issues they often face regarding appropriate site, managing the construction and renovation process, and facility operation that is safe and economical. Ideas presented are based on experiences of real charter schools. The document is organized around…

Prospective founders of charter schools must gain the approval of a public organization empowered by state law to grant charters. Common examples of chartering entities include state and local boards of education, boards of public universities and community colleges, and specially created charter-school boards. This guide is designed to help…

This sourcebook is a collection of some planning workshop ideas and tools that have been used by organizers of charter school workshops in a number of states. The purpose of the sourcebook is to help organizations assist potential charter school founders in their school planning through the application, chartering, and approval processes. The…

This report suggests that charter schools need to consider six critical questions as they develop a student accountability plan for their school. These questions are: (1) "What is our school's mission?"; (2) "What do we want our students to know and be able to do?"; (3) "How will we know whether our students are achieving or attaining the goals…

This guide may be used by charter school operators in developing a business plan that can be used as a management tool in individual schools and in preparing applications for charters, renewals, and grants and loans. A sound business plan must reflect the school's ideas, assets, and needs clearly and succinctly. Drafting a business plan begins…