Strengthening Charter School Ecosystems Through Dual Capacity Building: Lessons From New Hampshire

January 13, 2026

As the number of charter schools continues to grow nationwide, so does the urgency of addressing a persistent challenge in charter policy: Support is often fragmented, focusing on either school-level support or authorizer training but rarely on both. This separation leads to a gap between what charter schools need to thrive and what support charter authorizers are equipped to provide. 

Recognizing this disconnect, the New Hampshire Department of Education (NHDE) partnered with WestEd in 2022 to strengthen the state’s charter school ecosystem. With more than 30 approved charter schools and more on the way, NHDE asked a question common to state leaders: How can we build operational expertise within schools while empowering authorizers to recognize and support excellence?

To address this challenge, NHDE partnered with WestEd to design and deliver targeted technical assistance to charter schools and charter school authorizers based on the needs of the sector. This partnership has allowed NHDE to provide targeted training to the seven members of the New Hampshire Charter School Board and the 30 charter schools that has increased the capacity of education leaders across the state.

A Framework for Dual Capacity Building

WestEd has been working with NHDE since 2023 to design and deliver targeted professional development to schools and authorizer professionals across the state. With a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program, the state has been able to fund a variety of training offerings with organizations like WestEd that can be tailored to the needs of schools. At the same time, as the main charter school authorizer, the New Hampshire State Board of Education can also access high-quality training designed and delivered by the WestEd team, ensuring that the information that schools receive is aligned with information that authorizing professionals are using. Examples of such WestEd training sessions that the NHDE Office of Charter Schools has offered to schools and authorizers across the state are discussed below.

Building School-Level Expertise

• Professional Learning for Effective Charter Board Governance. Effective charter school governance requires boards that understand their roles, their responsibilities, and the boundaries of appropriate oversight. WestEd provided virtual professional development sessions to New Hampshire charter school boards that strengthened governance capacity by developing an understanding of fiduciary responsibilities, strategic oversight practices, and the critical balance between support and accountability. This foundation enables boards to provide meaningful guidance to school leadership while avoiding operational micromanagement.

• Supporting Multilingual Learners. Charter schools, like all public schools, serve increasingly diverse student populations, including English Learners who require specialized instruction. The WestEd–NHDE partnership provided teachers and leaders with professional learning about federal compliance requirements, evidence-based instructional practices, and program design strategies specifically tailored to New Hampshire’s multilingual student population. This specialized capacity building ensures that schools can provide appropriate educational services to all enrolled students. One hundred percent of participants agreed that the webinar was of high quality, with one participant noting, “I appreciate the pertinent overviews of requirements and best practices as well as the plethora of resources.”

• Leadership Evaluation Frameworks. School leadership quality significantly impacts student outcomes, making leadership evaluation a critical component of charter school oversight. The training provided tools and frameworks for assessing school leadership effectiveness, enabling authorizers to make informed decisions about school performance while also understanding how to support leadership development.

Building Authorizer-Level Expertise

• Evidence-Based Authorization Practices. Effective charter school oversight requires that authorizers be able to understand high-quality instruction and evaluate it consistently. The training provided to New Hampshire’s authorization staff focused on evidence-based frameworks for school evaluation, performance monitoring strategies, and data-driven decision-making processes. This capacity building enables authorizers to provide meaningful oversight that supports school improvement rather than simply identifying deficiencies.

Replicating Success in Other States

If you are interested in undertaking this kind of work in your state, there are some factors you should take into consideration.

• Comprehensive Needs Assessment. States interested in implementing similar approaches should begin with a comprehensive assessment of current capacity on both the school and authorizer sides. Understanding existing strengths and gaps enables capacity-building investments that are more targeted and effective capacity-building investments.
• Customized Implementation. While the dual capacity-building framework can be adapted across contexts, implementation must be customized to address specific state regulatory environments, student demographics, and organizational structures. Successful replication requires understanding the local context and adapting approaches accordingly.
• Sustained Investment. Building lasting capacity requires sustained investment over time rather than one-time training events. States should plan for multiyear partnerships that allow for iterative improvement and ongoing support as both schools and authorizers develop their expertise.
• Partnership With External Experts. Effective capacity building often requires expertise that may not exist within state education agencies. Partnerships with organizations that have experience in both charter school operations and oversight can provide the specialized knowledge needed for successful implementation.