Education organization Tennesseans for Student Success (TSS) announced a new resource Thursday to provide parents and local school districts with more information about public charter schools that are applying to open in their communities.¶
The organization’s Quality Charter Review will present an analysis of new start charter school applications in Tennessee to evaluate their academic plan design, operations plan, and financial plan. Each review will provide an overall recommendation for or against the application along with suggestions for improvements.¶
"The Quality Charter Review will provide communities with information that's currently unavailable or not easily accessible to discuss the quality of proposed public charter schools before they're evaluated by education leaders," said TSS President and CEO Adam Lister. "Having this information on the front end of the process each year will help school board members make better informed decisions about whether an applicant would truly provide an exceptional education for all students."¶
The organization says the need for this kind of review became apparent during the charter application process last year. Local school boards across the state decided 24 applications for new public charter schools. Some of those boards had never reviewed an application from a public charter school before.¶
This year 16 applications have been filed in 8 school districts across Tennessee.¶
Tennesseans for Student Success says its Quality Charter Review will be led by Senior Policy Analyst Mallory Ray and the process will involve an in-depth analysis of each new charter school application based on the Tennessee Department of Education Charter Application scoring guidelines.¶
"Communities benefit when all children have access to a high-quality education. That begins with a school that's not only well run but delivers proven, effective, education strategies." said Mallory Ray. "The Quality Charter Review will hold each application’s academic, operations, and financial plans under a microscope to determine if they meet the standard of success our students deserve."¶
The first reports evaluate the five charter applications in Shelby County, including recommendations to approve Empower Memphis Career and College Prep Charter School, Memphis Grizzlies Prep STEAM School for Girls, and Pathways in Education – Memphis.¶
The review is recommending denying applications from CHANGE Academy and the Tennessee Career Academy.¶
The Tennessee Firefly is funded in part by Tennesseans for Student Success.¶
