NEW YORK CITY CHARTER SCHOOL CENTER TO HELP OTHER CITIES INCREASE NUMBER OF HIGH QUALITY PUBLIC SCHOOL SEATS NATIONWIDE
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First-Ever National Program will Lay the Foundation For Next Generation of Quality Public Charter Schools,
Creating Over 25,000
New Seats For Students
July 10, 2013 (New York, NY) – With a decade of experience helping to build one of the country’s most successful charter school sectors, the New York City Charter School Center unveiled today details of a new program in which it will work with charter supporters across the country to help create over 25,000 new high quality public charter school seats by the 2017-18 school year.
The Replicating Quality Schools: Launching the Next Generation of High Quality Schools initiative, supported in part by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, will provide charter school leaders and emerging networks with the skills, information and resources necessary for strategic growth. Program participants will be given access to nationally-recognized CMO operators and replication experts as they work to develop their business plans and apply for replication.
The NYC Charter Center plans to bring the program to four cities/markets over the next three years; New Orleans is to be the first city, with the eight-week program launching there this October.
“Some of the country’s best performing and largest CMOs started as a single school; the goal of Replicating Quality Schools is to provide the resources and coaching that will result in more high quality single schools and small networks growing to scale both faster and more efficiently,” said James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center. “Through Replicating Quality Schools we will use our experiences as well as those of other successful replicator experts across the country to help build the capacity of local charter supporters to organize and catalyze the growth of high performing charter school networks within their existing charter ecosystems.”
Replicating Quality Schools will provide technical support, exemplars and intensive hands-on trainings on key subjects ranging from curriculum, academic structures and instructional methodology, financial planning and modeling, to guidance on developing a business plan and gaining approval for initial and subsequent replications. The program will be led by Jim Ford, a nationally-recognized education consultant specializing in charter school planning and development.
“The fact remains that high quality public school seats are in very short supply across this country. For the first time, an initiative is bringing together leading charter school experts, funders, and authorizers to lend their time and expertise for the purpose of growing the charter sector and improving public education across this country,” said Jim Ford, Director of Replicating Quality Schools. “This is the first hands-on training opportunity of its kind that offers a level of depth and sophistication not typically seen in training programs, but necessary to ensure successful replication of high quality public charter schools in multiple markets throughout the country.”
The NYC Charter Center will partner with local charter supporters – such as a state charter association, a local or state charter school support organization, a charter school authorizer, a school district or municipality, an incubator organization, a philanthropic organization or partnerships among them – to implement the program.
Charter supporters interested in bringing Replicating Quality Schools to their city/region can click here to learn more about the program and apply.
A link to the program can be found here.
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The New York City Charter School Center is a nonprofit organization committed to fostering an environment in which public charters can open and flourish, and, through their innovative approaches, provide models for improving all public schools. The NYC Charter Center helps new charter schools get started, supports existing schools, and engages the charter school community around key issues.
About NYC’s Charter Schools
Charter schools are free, independently run public schools that are able to innovate in their classroom structures, curriculum, and teaching methods. In return, they’re held to higher standards of accountability. More than 90 percent of the City’s charter school students are African-American or Latino, and more than 75 percent are from low-income families. There will be 183 charter schools serving students in all five boroughs in the 2013-2014 school year, with a total of more than 200 schools across the state. All together an estimated 75,000 students in New York attend charter schools.
