CSDC
Accountability Services

Focusing on School Quality

CSDC's Charter School Accountability Services have been developed over several years with generous input from dozens of charter schools, school districts and county offices of education. These services are designed to evaluate a charter school's performance in the following areas: student performance, finance/operations, and governance. Our services are intended for use by both charter schools and charter-granting agencies and can be customized to the particular needs of our clients.

Charter School Quality Review
CSDC offers a comprehensive evaluation of a charter school’s performance and quality for annual and renewal review. The school review includes an in-depth, multi-day site visit with expert evaluators, as well as a detailed follow-up report of findings on the school's performance. The school quality review process assesses a charter school’s progress on the student and school performance goals listed in the charter. The review team includes experts in all key areas of charter school operations, including finance, education program, personnel and governance. The renewal review follows a similar protocol to that of the annual review, with the addition of a more long-term look at the school’s performance history and future goals.

Click here for more information about the Charter School Quality Review.

Dispute Resolution Services
In instances where conflicts arise between charter schools and charter-granting agencies, CSDC offers expert mediation and facilitation services to help resolve issues related to school performance and evaluation, as well as disagreements concerning the ongoing operating relationship between a school and its granting agency.

Accountability and Renewal Trainings
CSDC offers expert, comprehensive accountability and renewal trainings to charter schools and charter school authorizers. These trainings are offered as individualized school and authorizer workshops. Click here to view CSDC's workshops.

In these times of high stakes school performance and oversight, accountability and how it is measured is a top priority for charter schools as well as charter-granting agencies. Charter school revocations and non-renewals are on the rise. Charter-granting agencies are facing increasing political scrutiny regarding their oversight capacity. In addition, more and more charter school boards and staffs are recognizing the importance of evaluating their own performance as a means to improving the quality and effectiveness of their schools.

To assist charter schools and charter-granting agencies in meeting the increased demand to measure and monitor charter school performance, CSDC has developed a highly effective accountability system that provides clear guidelines, criteria and evaluation tools.

• Promotes clear communication between schools and charter-granting agencies
• Reduces oversight costs and provides increased oversight capacity to charter-granting agencies
• Reduces the paperwork burden for charter schools by streamlining accountability reporting requirements
• Mitigates conflict due to unclear goals and expectations and reduces the risk of unnecessary revocation or non-renewal
• Provides manageable reporting tools and clear, up-to-date performance data
• Assists schools with internal assessments and strategic planning
• Fosters a system of high quality, high-performing charter schools

CSDC has extensive experience in the areas of accountability, charter-granting and oversight. Our expert staff has been working with charter schools and charter-granting agencies throughout California and across the country for more than 11 years. We have consulted to school districts, county and state departments of education, as well as new and experienced charter schools on such issues as:

• developing accountability policies and procedures
• implementing annual and renewal reporting tools and processes
• aligning curriculum to the state standards
• developing alternative assessments

Representing a wide range of expertise in business, finance, education and policy, our staff is well-trained to provide in-depth evaluation of charter school performance from every perspective.

What Our Clients Say...

"As a charter school preparing for renewal, we found CSDC’s accountability process to be extremely valuable. It helped us understand our strengths and challenges more clearly and created a more unified vision of Odyssey’s mission and core goals. Thanks to CSDC and the charter school accountability process, our charter was renewed and we have a solid growth plan for the next five years."
-- Kathleen O’Sullivan, Founder and Board Member, Odyssey Charter School, Pasadena

"CSDC staff provided a much needed independent voice to our school evaluation process. Their experience and reputation proved valuable, and as a result, their report of findings was taken seriously by all of the key stakeholders. The CSDC accountability tools are complete and comprehensive. CSDC’s participation made our evaluation a great success."
-- Ted Hamory, Co-Director, The New City School, Long Beach

"CSDC’s charter school accountability services are both practical and effective. Through use of well-designed tools and expert guidance, schools create a living document to monitor progress and achieve ongoing improvement. As both a client of CSDC’s accountability services and an outside evaluator for other schools undergoing performance reviews, I found the accountability process to be clear, efficient and highly beneficial."
--Michael Gillespie, Principal, Joe Serna Charter School, Lodi

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