What You Will Learn

Develop strategies and perspectives necessary to create high-performing learning organizations. Work with Harvard faculty and leading charter colleagues from across the country to examine charter school challenges, confront long-held beliefs and solve difficult problems of practice.

Program Overview

Charter schools represent an entrepreneurial reform strategy designed to improve educational outcomes for K—12 students through increased choice and reduced government bureaucracy. Current challenges focus on strategies and practices for financial and human resource management, practices to gain effective classroom instruction, approaches for scaling up successful models and frameworks for understanding the changing landscape for charter school policy.

Charter Schools: Practices for High Performance is a four-day leadership development program designed specifically to help you develop the essential skills and strategies to build capacity and imrpove student outcomes. This institute draws on the expertise and research of Harvard faculty and leading practitioners in framing the challenges faced by charter schools and their school communities while also placing them in the context of the larger state- and national-level policy environment.

The curriculum examines several overarching questions:

• What factors are important to the successful expansion of charter schools?
• How can charter schools strategically manage their external environment to achieve successful outcomes?
• What systems help charter schools build internal capacity to ensure effective student achievement?
• What nonprofit management knowledge and skills are essential for leaders of entrepreneurial charter schools?

Program Objectives

• Examine elements of high-performing charter schools
• Explore issues of scale-up that support positive outcomes for students
• Address topics of internal accountability that enhance student learning
• Allocate human and financial resources to build organizational capacity
• Devise a theory of action for working effectively with charter boards, external agencies and constituencies

Who Should Attend

• Educators and administrators involved in the design and implementation of charter schools at both the school and system levels
• Administrators responsible for the design of state or national policy affecting charter schools

Fall 2011 Session Topics and Faculty

Navigating the Tricky Relationship between the Board Chair and the School Head
Cheryl Alexander, President, Board of Trustees, Bridge Boston Charter School
Ellen Williams, Member, Board of Trustees, Bridge Boston Charter School

Authorizers: Who is Minding the Store?
Sally Bachofer, Assistant Commissioner, New York State Education Department

Achieving Strategic Alignment
Peter Frumkin, Professor of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

Working with Teams: Mount Everest Case Study
Monica Higgins, Professor of Education, HGSE

Strategic Decision-Making and the Management of Resources
James Honan, Senior Lecturer on Education, HGSE

Scaling Up and Leveraging Your CMO
Dana Lehman, Managing Director, Uncommon Schools, Boston

The Next Decade of the Charter Schools Movement
Stig Leschly, Chief Executive Officer, MATCH, Inc.

Achieving Quality Instruction: Instructional Rounds
Katherine Merseth, Senior Lecturer on Education; Director of the Teacher Education Program, HGSE

Effective Leadership Development for Successful & Sustainable Charter Schools
Aretha Miller, Senior Director of School Support, New York City Charter School Center

Supporting Adult Learning in Charter School Systems
Rob Riordan, Emperor of Rigor, High Tech High

Charter-District Cooperation: A Reality or an Illusion?
Alan Safran, Executive Director, MATCH, Inc.

The Next Challenges for Charter Schools
Nelson Smith, Former President, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

Systems and Structures for Academic Success
Josh Zoia, Co-Executive Director, KIPP Academy Lynn

Faculty Chair

Katherine Merseth is Senior Lecturer on Education and Director of the Teacher Education Program at HGSE. Merseth has more than 40 years of experience in instruction, administration and research in public education in the United States and internationally. Her work concentrates on charter schools, teacher education, mathematics education and the case-method of instruction. Most recently, she was the principal investigator for a study researching high-performing charter schools, the results of which have been turned into the recently published book Inside Urban Charter Schools: Promising Practices and Strategies in Five High-Performing Charter Schools.

Enrollment Instructions

Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Fees

The comprehensive program fee includes tuition, all instructional materials, networking opportunities with faculty and participants, a special event, certificate of participation and a letter indicating clock hours of instruction. Payment is due within 30 days of registration.

Accommodations

Hotel accommodations are made available to participants at a reduced rate. Rooms are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Detailed hotel information will be made available closer to the program date.

Cancellation Policy

Cancellations must be submitted via fax or email. Full refunds will be given up to 30 days prior to the start of the program. Due to program demand and pre-institute preparations, cancellations received 29–14 days prior to the start of the program are subject to a fee of 10% of the program tuition. Cancellations received within 13 days prior to the start of the program and no-shows are subject to the full program tuition. Please note: cancellation fees are based upon the date the written request is received.

The Harvard Graduate School of Education reserves the right to change faculty or cancel programs at its discretion. In the unlikely event of program changes, the school is not responsible for non-refundable travel arrangements or other planning expenses incurred.