CLCS Quality Statements

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Quality Statements for Colorado Charter Schools

(Adopted by the Colorado League of Charter Schools Board of Directors on February 21, 2008)

The Colorado League of Charter Schools has adopted the following quality statements that reflect the shared values and expectations of Colorado’s charter school community.

Quality Statement 1: Student Academic Achievement
Though models and delivery methods may vary, a high-quality charter school prioritizes student achievement by adopting a mission focused on academics, designing and delivering a sound educational program, holding high academic expectations for all students, and achieving student performance goals set forth in the school’s charter and contract.

Quality Statement 2: Effective Leadership
The leaders of a charter school, including its staff leaders and board of directors, are stewards of the charter’s mission and vision and carry out their duties in an effective, professional, responsible and ethical manner. Charter school leaders use their influence and authority for the primary purpose of achieving student success and fulfilling the school’s mission.

Quality Statement 3: Continuous Focus on Increasing Quality
A charter school engages in a process of continuous self-improvement in order to increase the effectiveness of its educational program. The school regularly assesses and evaluates student learning and the efficacy of its educational program based on stated academic and non-academic performance goals.

Quality Statement 4: Responsible Governance
A charter school board fully exercises its fiduciary responsibilities by establishing and implementing board-level policies and governance practices that are transparent and focused on achieving the school’s mission, preserving institutional integrity, and ensuring the long-term viability of school operations.

Quality Statement 5: Fiscal Accountability
A charter school safeguards its primary source of revenue, public funds, by engaging in sound financial planning and management, as well as through controls and oversight of school spending. The school maintains its public funds and records in accordance with applicable law and annually receives an unqualified audit from an independent auditor.

Characteristics
A quality charter school:

Exceeds local and state average performance for similar students’ longitudinal progress toward reaching state performance standards.
Holds high expectations for academic achievement for all students, particularly low performing students.
Encourages parental and community involvement as a tool for achieving academic success.
Provides a challenging, coherent, and suitable curriculum for all students.
Allocates appropriate resources to faithfully implement the educational program and achieve the school’s mission including instructional materials, staffing, instructional time (through the annual calendar and daily schedule) and facilities.
Supports students in a safe, healthy and nurturing environment so that students can prioritize learning and teachers can effectively instruct all students.
Shares its academically-focused mission and vision among the school community and demonstrates its mission in daily action and practice.

Characteristics
Leaders of quality charter schools:

Have a clear understanding of the laws governing public schools and monitors the trends, issues, and potential changes in the environment in which charter schools operate.
Consistently provide the educational program outlined in its charter application and contract.
Effectively communicate and engage faculty, staff, parents/guardians, students, and community members in the mission, vision, and performance of the school.
Generate and sustain a school culture conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
Regularly monitor and evaluate the success of the curriculum and the quality of instruction.
Contribute to regular, public reports on the school’s progress towards achieving its annual and long-term goals to the school community, the school’s authorizer, and other external stakeholders.
Make management decisions with the goal of optimizing successful teaching and learning experiences. All decisions are made in light of the question, “What’s best for the students?”
Treat all individuals with fairness and respect.
Abstain from any decision involving a potential or actual conflict of interest.
Embrace diversity and implements practices that are inclusive of all types of learners consistent with the school’s mission.
Understand school change and growth, and leads the school through change effectively.

Characteristics
A quality charter school:

Establishes clear, measurable annual and long-term goals and benchmarks and identifies specific strategies to meet these ends, and has in place the means to evaluate accomplishment of goals.
Implements a coherent performance management strategy, including formative and summative assessments, data analysis, and information management practices and systems that support self-examination and improvement as well as external reporting needs.
Consistently bases curriculum and instruction decisions on student assessment results.
Understands the strengths and weaknesses in student performance using multiple measures of performance.
Uses the results of programmatic evaluation and student assessment as the basis for the allocation of resources for programmatic improvement, including professional development.
Involves faculty, staff, students, parents/guardians and other stakeholders in its accountability for student learning and in the school’s self-evaluation process.
Engages in periodic evaluations of school performance through self-studies and reviews conducted by independent external parties and uses evaluation results as a basis for continuous self-improvement.

Characteristics
A quality charter school board:

Focuses on achieving the school’s mission and vision with priority given to the academic performance of all students.
Enacts policies that implement the school’s mission, provide predictability and fairness to the school community, and are fairly enforced.
Understands the roles and responsibilities of the governing board (versus the administration), as well as the legal obligations assumed by the board.
Provides fiscal oversight and ensures the school’s long-term financial viability.
Provides appropriate oversight of the school’s head administrator including developing a job description and conducting a fair and timely annual evaluation based on that job description.
If contracting with an Educational Services Provider (ESP), establishes annual and long-term performance goals for the ESP as part of a management contract and annually evaluates the ESP’s performance vs. goals.
Avoids conflicts of interest in the governance and leadership structure of the school by adopting and adhering to a written, formally adopted policy on conflict of interest that sets forth potential conflicts and how such conflicts will be avoided. Among other things, such policies should address potential nepotism, employees serving on governing boards, and self-dealing.
Engages in a strategic planning process, updated periodically, and works with the administration to develop annual and long-term goals, and monitors progress made towards these goals.
Seeks input from its stakeholders as to the school’s progress in fulfilling its mission and vision and meeting its annual and long-term goals.
Enacts policies that embrace diversity and are appropriately inclusive of all school constituents.
Engages in an ongoing program of board development to strengthen the governance capacity of the board, including an annual self-assessment and orientation for new board members that enable them to understand and effectively meet their leadership and fiduciary responsibilities.
Ensures that board-level and administrative policies are in compliance with authorizer policies and state and federal laws (except in instances where waivers have been granted), are clearly communicated with all stakeholders, and are implemented in a fair and consistent manner.
Ensures ongoing familiarity and compliance with applicable laws, governing documents, and the charter contract.

Characteristics
A quality charter school:

Is fiscally solvent, uses an approved annual budget as a management tool, and plans for contingencies.
Creates and monitors immediate and long-range financial plans to effectively implement the school’s educational program and ensure ongoing financial viability.
Develops and provides to the board and school stakeholders periodic reports on actual vs. budget financial performance and the school’s overall financial status.
Receives annually an unqualified financial audit from an independent auditor, which is available for public inspection, and appropriately responds to any recommendations made by the auditor.
Establishes and implements clear fiscal policies and procedures to protect the school from financial mismanagement and to ensure that public funds are used responsibly and legally.
Ensures that allocation of financial resources is directly aligned with the school’s mission, vision, and goals.
Ensures that proper approval for all disbursements is received.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

CLCS Quality Statements

Quality Statements for Colorado Charter Schools

(Adopted by the Colorado League of Charter Schools Board of Directors on February 21, 2008)