Even with a mix of snow and rain in the forecast, nearly 600 parents came out for the first-ever Brooklyn Charter School Fair on Saturday, March 16. The Charter Center put this fair together to give parents the opportunity to speak directly with charter school representatives and learn about their…
On March 10, James Merriman, CEO of the Charter Center; Karen Jones, Principal of Bed-Stuy New Beginnings; and Karina Infante, high school student from Williamsburg Charter High School sat down with Open Line hosts Bob Slade, Bob Pickett and James Mtume to discuss the first-ever Brooklyn Charter School Fair on…
Our team had the pleasure of visiting with our friends at New Dawn Charter School in Brooklyn. New Dawn is one of several "transfer-like" charter schools (for a long time there was really only one, Wildcat Academy—but we now have five others). Running a transfer high school is hard. Starting…
This Tuesday, more than 1,200 parents, students, school staff and elected officials came together in Albany at the ninth annual Charter School Advocacy Day. Embodying the day's theme of "Many Stories, One Vision," participants shared their diverse experiences and called on lawmakers to help charter schools continue their support for…
On Tuesday over 1200 charter school supporters came to Albany to meet with lawmakers and tell our stories. We also carried a simple message: charter schools should be eligible to compete for the full-day pre-kindergarten funding that Governor Cuomo has proposed. You would think that supporters of early childhood education…
Prior to yesterday's mayoral debate on education, leaders representing 47 charter schools and three support organizations issued the following statement: STATEMENT ON PUBLIC SCHOOL CO-LOCATION AND THE MAYORAL ELECTION As the mayoral candidates gather to discuss education policy, we call on Bill de Blasio, William Thompson, and John Liu to…
The Charter Center is on the record in opposition to the State Education Department's (SED) assertion that charter schools are required to submit data about teacher evaluations according to the state's categories, whether or not that makes sense given the charter school's evaluation practices. (GothamSchools covered the disagreement last month.)…
A flood of data is re-shaping American public education, nowhere more than in New York City. Yet there are still key topics in NYC education debates where the critical data are not publicly available, or do not exist at all. It's possible for city and state agencies to address these…
In a guest post for Democrats for Education Reform, James Merriman remembers the man known by many as The Chancellor. "Frank fought hard for schools to be organized in ways that worked for children. But as he fought, he never lost his direction or way, never let his anger get…
Yesterday, the NYC Department of Education released its 2011-12 progress reports for high schools. (See our breakdown of the K-8 progress reports.) The reports assign a letter grade to each school, based on student test scores, student progress, attendance, and "learning environment" survey results, all heavily weighted to account for…
