Overview
State education agencies, local education agencies, authorizers, charter school governing boards, and schools play critical roles in providing every student with a high-quality, equitable education. WestEd partners with these organizations to enhance their capacity to develop and implement policies, systems, and strategies that improve school quality and provide access to school choice options that serve all students.
Our work focuses on developing collaborative solutions related to three primary areas:
- Supporting all learners in charter schools. WestEd engages partners in developing products and tools that support charter schools in effectively serving all students, including students with disabilities and English learners.
- Systemic improvement of the charter sector. We actively support stakeholders across the charter ecosystem who work hand-in-hand to support equitable access to high-quality options for all students.
- High-quality authorizing. WestEd works with charter authorizers, state departments of education, and charter support organizations to strengthen systems for authorizing, monitoring, and renewing high-quality charter schools.
Research, Evaluation, and Policy
WestEd provides services pertaining to charter schools and school choice for a variety of federal, state, and local organizations. These services include rigorous evaluations, policy analyses, best practices research, and formative evaluations that inform program impacts and improvements.
WestEd also conducts mixed method, impact and implementation evaluations for various school choice grants, including Breakthrough Schools, Perry Street Preparatory Public Charter School, and magnet programs in Baltimore County and Clark County.
WestEd is home to the monitoring services for the U.S. Department of Education for the Charter Schools Program (CSP) grants.
Technical Assistance
We work directly with state education agencies, charter authorizers, charter networks, and individual schools. We have worked with state education agencies and authorizers across the nation, including the New York, Delaware, and the California Departments of Education to support and sustain high quality charter schools in areas such as school improvement, governance, finance, family engagement, and special education. We have worked with Honors Academy of Literature, and Delta Academy, and Skyline Education on instructional and leadership coaching, curriculum alignment, and assessment review.
WestEd is currently a partner on the National Charter School Resource Center (NCSRC). The NCSRC provides technical assistance and resources to Charter School Program grantees and develops resources, such as case studies, webinars, and toolkits for charter sector stakeholders.
News & Events
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Join WestEd Researchers at the 2022 AERA and NCME Annual Meetings
Events / Charters & Choice / April 9, 2022
WestEd researchers will offer presentations, chair sessions, or serve as discussants during the AERA Annual Meeting on April 20–26, 2022. Researchers will also take part in sessions at the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), which meets annually with AERA.
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Operators and Authorizers: Collaborating to Make Sure Charter Schools Meet Community Needs
Charters & Choice / December 20, 2021
WestEd's School Choice Project Director Robin Chait describes how a charter school operator and authorizer collaborated to ensure a proposed charter school met the needs of a San Diego community. -
Join WestEd at the 2021 AERA Virtual Annual Meeting
Events / Charters & Choice / April 8, 2021
WestEd staff will present, chair, or serve as discussants in more than 24 sessions during the 2021 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Virtual Annual Meeting, April 8–12, 2021.
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Webinar: We Are Family – Planning for Family Engagement in the Charter School Life Cycle. Register today.
Events / Charters & Choice / December 16, 2020
This webinar is designed for educators who want to make meaningful advancements in family engagement and student achievement.
Supporting Resources
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Balancing District Impacts and Community Interests: Considerations for District Charter Authorizers
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Considering Turnaround for Low-Performing Charter Schools
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English Learners in Charter Schools: A Learning Experience Focused on English Learner Instruction
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Fostering Collaboration Between District and Charter Schools: A Toolkit for State and Local Leaders
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Four Domains for Significant and Sustainable Charter School Improvement: A Systems Framework for the Charter Context
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From the Brink of Closure: Key Factors in One Charter School's Successful Turnaround
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Charters & Choice Services
WestEd provides evidence-based support designed to help all our clients meet the needs of the communities they serve.
State education agencies rely on us to assess school choice policies and implement changes that improve high-quality school options. We facilitate district-charter collaboration, support state education agencies in reviewing their school choice policies and practices, and provide policy-relevant recommendations.
Charter authorizers work with us to strengthen systems for authorizing, monitoring, and renewing high quality charter schools. They also seek our support in ensuring that charter schools enroll and serve all students effectively, including students with disabilities and English Learners.
Charter networks throughout the country work with us to evaluate their programming and support school improvement efforts, provide academic and leadership support, instructional and leadership coaching, and curriculum and assessment review.
Leadership teams throughout traditional and charter schools work with us to build capacity, ensure fiscal and programmatic accountability, and support continuous improvement for our partners.
Supporting All Learners in Charter Schools
As the charter sector evolves, authorizers, state departments of education, school districts and others are putting greater emphasis on ensuring that charter schools meet the needs of all learners. WestEd engages partners in developing products and tools that support charter schools in effectively serving students with disabilities, English Learners, and students from historically underserved communities.
- Working Together to Support Equitable Access to Charter Schools
- English Learners in Charter Schools: A Learning Experience Focused on English Learner Instruction
Systemic Improvement of the Charter Sector
As the charter sector continues to evolve, actively preventing and addressing underperforming charter schools is imperative to ensuring continuous improvement. WestEd actively supports stakeholders across the charter ecosystem who work hand-in-hand to support equitable access to high-quality options for all students.
Our products, tools, and capacity-building experiences include support for:
- Addressing school improvement needs
- Identifying indicators of distress in schools prior to failure
- Strategic planning and system redesign
- Evaluations and program reviews
- On-Demand learning opportunities
- Improvement planning, implementation and accountability support
Support for High-Quality Authorizing
WestEd works with charter authorizers, state departments of education, and charter support organizations to strengthen systems for authorizing, monitoring, and renewing high-quality charter schools. WestEd expertise also helps charter schools enroll and serve all students effectively, including students with disabilities and English Learners.
WestEd’s Four Domains Guides Systemic Improvement Actions
The Four Domains for Significant and Sustainable Charter School Improvement was developed and designed by WestEd to help educators and policymakers in the charter school system organize and guide both policy and action for rapid school improvement. We draw on key elements of the research-based framework to sustain continuous improvement for charter schools, while also facilitating enhanced collaboration between traditional districts and schools of choice to promote better outcomes.
Expertise
WestEd brings research-informed expertise to help build capacity, ensure fiscal and programmatic accountability, and support continuous improvement for our partners. Our work in school improvement, special education, instructional transformation, school culture, and talent management allows us to serve our partners with a holistic approach to improving quality and access for all students.
Explore More
Special Education English learners
Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement Trauma-informed practice
Meet Our Experts
Sara AllenderSara Allender is a Senior Research Associate at WestEd who leads monitoring and evaluation projects that provide stakeholders and policymakers with key program implementation information. She directed WestEd’s Voluntary Public School Choice (VPSC) and Magnet School Assistance Program (MSAP) monitoring projects and currently leads the Charter School Program (CSP) monitoring project, each for the U.S Department of Education.View Full Bio
Steve CanaveroSteve Canavero, Ph.D., is a Senior Advisor at WestEd. Most recently, he served as the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Nevada where he led the state’s education system serving nearly 450,000 students. Steve previously was appointed to serve as the first director of Nevada’s newly created State Public Charter School Authority. His work there resulted in Nevada’s charter school policy becoming one of the highest rated in the nation.View Full Bio
Robin ChaitRobin Chait brings more than 15 years of experience to her role at WestEd. Previously, she led policy, communications, and fundraising for Center City Public Charter Schools in Washington D.C. She also led teacher and leader effectiveness initiatives within the Race to the Top grant at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) and developed state and federal policy recommendations at the Center for American Progress. She also served as a third grade teacher.View Full Bio
Aimee EvanAimee Evan, Ph.D., provides integrated solutions for WestEd partners and has led numerous research, evaluation, technical assistance, and professional learning projects and written on topics of school improvement, systems design, and college and career readiness. She is currently leading the systemic improvement strategy of charter schools, which includes frameworks and capacity building to prevent and address charter school improvement needs. View Full Bio
John FlahertyJohn Flaherty, Jr., directs evaluation projects that ultimately provide policymakers and practitioners with the information they need to improve education services. Mr. Flaherty’s work ranges from large-scale national policy and program evaluations to local community-based projects, encompassing a variety of evaluation designs as well as content areas.View Full Bio
Lauren OutlawLauren Outlaw is a Senior Policy Specialist for WestEd. She currently analyzes program, federal, and state compliance requirements to develop policies and protocols to support system productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency. Throughout her work, Ms. Outlaw interprets and applies various state education code statutes to understand the implications for policy and practice at local levels. She also supports the effective implementation of the Charter Schools Program grant monitoring project.