NAPCS: Annual Charter School Rankings Have Minnesota First, Mississippi Last
Posted on Wednesday January 19, 2011 | National
From the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools:
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) today released its second annual report which ranks the nation’s charter school laws from the strongest to the weakest. Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of State Public Charter School Laws analyzes the country’s 41 state charter laws and scores how well each supports charter school quality and growth based on the 20 essential components from the NAPCS’ model charter school law.
The new report captures all the legislative moves states made to be more competitive under the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top program. Overall, Minnesota’s charter school law ranked the highest and Mississippi’s new charter school law ranked the lowest.
“There were a lot of shake-ups on the list this year,” commented Peter C. Groff, president and CEO, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “Through the Race to the Top competition, states had a new incentive to take bold steps and make major improvements to their charter school laws. Some chose to do so and gained in our ranking. Those who made superficial or no changes, however, often lost ground.”
“High-quality charter schools start with strong charter school laws. Our state charter law rankings describe how laws can ensure charter schools are able to innovate in ways that boost student achievement while being held to high standards of academic, fiscal, and operational performance,” explained Todd Ziebarth, vice president of state advocacy and support, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “The rankings and the model law developed by the Alliance and other key stakeholders are moving lawmakers in key states to make positive policy changes.” Ziebarth is the author of the report.
Read more: http://www.publiccharters.org/node/3113