Elevate Charter Schools - Fulfilling the Promise of Charter Schools Presentation @ the New Jersey Charter Schools Conference

1. State Charter School Association Collaborative
ELEVATE CHARTERS
DELIVERING ON THE PROMISE

2. Ted Fujimoto
• Entrepreneur - Started first company-Age 18. Part of venture group at that acquired
consulting company—reengineered retail networks for 11 automotive brands and hospitality brands
• Models - Co-founded and developed school model – New Technology High School – 21 st Century
Learning Environment---41+ locations around country, growing 11-25 per year
• Scale - Developed strategic plans/scaling methodology for Big Picture, Los Angeles Alliance for
College-Ready Public Schools, Partnerships for Uplifting Communities, and New Technology Foundation
• Movement - Co-founded California Charter Schools Association – movement grew from 435
to over 700. Now working with dozen state charter school associations
• Student - Visited over 500 schools

3. Jill Shahen
• Movement – Managing Director – New York Charter Schools Association
• Authorizer - Former Director of Charter Accountability for the Charter Schools Institute of
the State University of New York. She was responsible for charter oversight, monitoring and compliance
issues for over 40 SUNY authorized charter schools including charter schools that were closed
• Passion – Passion for great charter schools.
• Scale – National Elevate team member---build capacity of charter school associations to help
schools get better.
• Italian…

4. Promise
Pressure
Response

5. Promise
Pressure
Response

11. "41 percent of the nation's charter closures
resulted from financial deficiencies caused by
either low student enrollment or inequitable
funding," while 14% had closed due to poor
academic performance

15. “By every measure the United States is not leading
the world. Whether it’s college graduation rates or
whether it’s eighth grade algebra scores, we have a
long way to go.”
“We have a dropout rate that is absolutely
unacceptable, 27 percent nationally. More than a
quarter of our students drop out of schools each
year and that is economically unsustainable and
morally unacceptable.”
U.S. Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan

17. Battle is getting tougher
Mixed results
Change to deliver undeniable success
Do better for kids and country
Quality is important
Limited time

18. Promise
Pressure
Response

19. 100% proficiency in math
and science, 91% and
96% in reading and social
science.

20. U.S. Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan -
Manor New Technology
High School a “model for
reaching underserved
youth”
President Obama – “That’s why we’ll follow
the example of places like the Met Center in
Rhode Island that give students that individual
attention, while also preparing them through
real-world, hands-on training the possibility of
succeeding in a career.”

21. MATCH 10th
graders ranked
first in the state,
of all 340 school
districts, with
100 percent
scoring Advanced
or Proficient on
the state’s 2009
math MCAS exam

23. 100% of North Star’s high school graduates have been
accepted into at least one four-year college. Graduates
average four acceptances each and approximately 95%
enroll in four-year universities after graduation.
98% Middle School students were proficient in
Mathematics, and 98% were proficient in Science
100% of elementary students in both the 1st grade class of
2020 and the Kindergarten class of 2021 scored at or above
grade level on the Terra Nova exam.

24. What was your promise?

26. Promise
Pressure
Response

27. Advocating for the Movement and Helping the Movement Define Quality
Effective Authorizing and Closing Bad Schools
Helping Charter Schools Reach Top Performance

28. Elevate is a CSO-aligned collaborative with a
mission to help charter schools build capacity
to be strong organizations that generate
undeniable student success -- the success that
justifies the movement's existence and
expansion.
President Obama: "For the majority of schools
that fall in between – schools that do well but
could do better – we will encourage
continuous improvement to help keep our
young people on track for a bright future:
prepared for the jobs of the 21st century."

31. Charter School System

32. A B C
• Document • Gap Analysis • Gap Analysis
Review Workshops Report
• Site Visit (Board, Staff) • Solutions Guide
• Interviews • Coaching
1-3 months

33. A B C
• Document • Gap Analysis • Gap Analysis
Review Workshops Report
• Site Visit (Board, Staff) • Solutions Guide
• Interviews • Coaching
1-3 months

34. A B C
• Document • Gap Analysis • Gap Analysis
Review Workshops Report
• Site Visit (Board, Staff) • Solutions Guide
• Interviews • Coaching
1-3 months

37. "The CharterShield brought our school back to
focusing on the specific obligations spelled out
in our charter-something too easily overlooked
in a school's day-to-day operations. Thanks to
the Elevate consultant team, our governance is
re-energized in setting expectations of the
school leadership to ensure our charter goals
are met."
James Neimeier, Chair Board of Trustees
South Buffalo Charter School

38. Next Steps
• Each state identifying limited number of
charter school candidates for CharterShield
• Now through July 1, 2010
• If interested, give us your business card

39. State Charter School Association Collaborative
Contact Information
Jill Shahen
jshahen@elevatecharters.org
800.405.0670
Ted Fujimoto
tfujimoto@elevatecharters.org
415-963-4406
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