Building a Charter Review Team: Best Practices and Strategies

1. Building a Charter Review Team

2. Your Presenters Anna Kucaj, Achievement School District Stacey Thompson, Shelby County Schools Carol Swann, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools

3. A Quality Authorizer… • Only authorizes excellent schools that offer high-quality instruction and are in the best interests of the students, families, and district; • Holds schools accountable, closes low performers, and encourages the expansion of high performers; • Defends the public trust using processes that are transparent and fair; • Promotes innovation by protecting school autonomy; • Communicates effectively.

4. Best Practices to Consider in Building Review Teams • Engaging a variety of stakeholders • Qualities sought in effective reviewers • Selecting high-quality reviewers • Training reviewers • Evaluating reviewers

5. Who Is On Your Team? Evaluators should represent: • A diverse group reflective of your district • Individuals with specific areas of expertise (e.g., academics, operations; finance, legal, organizational, community) • Experts in serving your student population (e.g., special education, English language learners, etc.)

6. Qualities of Top Reviewers • Experience and/or expertise in specific areas of the application – academics, operations, finance, governance, management, etc. • Time to commit to the entire authorization process • Impartiality/No conflicts of interest • Familiarity with Tennessee laws and academic standards • Ability to write and speak to specific strengths and deficiencies using the data given • Ability to formulate probing questions to effectively probe separate sections of the applications.

7. Other Key Skills Smart Soft Skills Soft Skills: Personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people.

8. Finding Reviewers Possible Reviewers • Local Stakeholders/Community Members • National Experts • Internal Staff • ExistingCharter Partners Vetting Reviewers • All Call for Evaluators • Interviews (e.g., phone, video, in-person) • Performance tasks

9. Providing Incentives Recruiting evaluators is easier, and more effective, if you can make the process mutually beneficial. Stated benefits might include: • Participation as professional development • Giving community members a voice • Adjusting work schedules to create free time • Providing compensation, or at least covering meals and expenses

10. What Do Reviewers Need to Know?

11. Innovative, Intentional Training • Develop a contextualized training based on audience (e.g., webinar, on-site, conference call, etc.) • Align training to the application and scoring rubric • Provide a thorough process that includes practice so that reviewers can see an actual application and apply the scoring rubric • Offer a detailed description of the district context for external reviewers • Be clear about expectations regarding the rubric (e.g., complete sentences, page numbers, precise and detailed descriptions of strengths and weaknesses that are measurable and objective, etc.) • Establish a clear, thorough explanation of “consensus” • Supply a differentiated, more detailed, training for team leads

12. Evaluating Reviewers Possible Data Sources • Survey of evaluators • Survey of applicants • Anecdotal and specific feedback from team leads Information is Needed • Effectiveness of training • Preparation to evaluate • Guidance from team leads • Cohesiveness of process

13. Anna Kucaj, anna.kucaj@tn-asd.org Stacey Thompson, thompsons1@scsk12.org Carol Swann, carol.swann@mnps.org