Augsburg College and Charter School Sponsorship

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Augsburg College and Charter School Sponsorship

• What does it mean?

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What is a Charter School?

• A Charter School
• is a public school funded with public money
• is non-sectarian, non-religious, and may not
  discriminate in student admissions
• is operated by parents, educators, and/or
  community leaders
• is free to be a unique school designed to meet
  the needs of the students it intends to serve
• is a public school that operates under a
  sponsorship contract with the local school board,
  state board, college or university or a non
  profit organization with assets valued at more
  than 2,000,000
• is a public school whose curriculum and budget is
  determined by the charter school board of
  directors
• is required to meet the same graduation standards
  as other schools
• Is financially accountable for all monies, as any
  district school is
• is responsible for improving achievement or it
  will be closed.

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WHY CHARTER SCHOOLS?

• Charter schools offer parents, teachers,
  community organizations, and individuals the
  opportunity to design, develop, and implement
  new, innovative, and creative ways to educate
  children.
• Charter schools provide the opportunity for new
  ideas and visions in education to take shape.
  They are an opportunity to involve stakeholders
  (teachers, students, parents, community) in the
  education process in new ways.
• Charter schools can address specific problems of
  high-risk students, students of color, and low
  income students. Charter schools may focus on
  different approaches to increasing student
  achievement
• Allows teachers and parents the opportunity to be
  responsible for the learning program at the
  school site,
• Build strong partnerships between schools and
  families,
• Chance to create smaller school. (Center for
  School Change)

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Charter schools are able to implement reform
models faster and more efficiently at a grass
roots level
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Another way to look at it
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Reform in a large school district is like
piloting a supertanker

• Must plan way ahead to bring into port
• Difficult to maneuver
• Many different groups involved in the process
  (tugboat, port director, captain, ship-hands)
• Very complicated machine which takes a great deal
  of time to fix when broken
• One mistake is very costly so great caution must
  be taken
• Great deal of politics involved in the operation

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Charter schools are like speedboats

• Can maneuver quickly
• Easily change its course if needed
• Fewer people involved in process
• More risks taken
• Mistakes can be made but consequences are often
  not as severe
• Not as many regulations that might get in the way
  of operation, less politics

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Each has its place, advantages, and disadvantages
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How is Augsburg College currently involved with
charter schools?

• Augsburg College currently sponsors two charter
  schools
• El Colegio Charter School(9-12)
• Augsburg Academy for Health Careers(9-12)

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El Colegio Charter School

• Located in south Minneapolis, it opened in fall
  2000
• Created to support growing Latino population in
  Twin Cities
• Project based curriculum with a focus on arts and
  language acquisition
• Goal is to increase graduation rates and increase
  the number of Latinos who go on to college
• Current enrollment at 90 students with a max
  capacity of 115 - serves a very mobile
  population
• Augsburg recently committed to continue a second
  three year sponsorship
• Although it has been difficult El College is a
  success story and is growing stronger

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Augsburg Academy for Health Careers

• Slated to open Sept. 2004 in St. Paul
• Will serve a diverse student population with a
  rigorous high school academic program focused on
  preparing students for a vocation in health
  related careers
• Emphasis on hands-on activities with mentors from
  the health professions
• Developed in collaboration with Faith in the City
  which includes Fairview Health Services, Luther
  Seminary, Central Lutheran Church, Lutheran
  Social Services, Thrivent, and Augsburg College
• Received Gates grant as part of the Star Schools
  project through the Center for School Change
• Highly qualified board and project director

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Augsburg College has made a commitment to
sponsor charter schools along with the following
higher education institutions

• Hamline University
• St. Thomas University
• College of St. Catherine
• Bethel College
• St. Marys University
• Metro State University
• Concordia University
• Century College
• Inver Hills Community College
• St. Paul College
• Central Lakes Community College

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Why sponsor a charter school?

• Chartered schools are often organized around
  innovative education practices and are able to
  implement those practices with less obstacles
  than a district might have.
• Frequently serve non-traditional students or
  students who are in one way or another alienated
  from the larger schools.
• Provide an unfulfilled need in the community. For
  example, Augsburg College currently sponsors a
  high school that will encourage minority students
  towards a career in health and medicine.
• Many higher education institutions sponsor and
  support chartered schools with the ideas that
  they may serve as a lab school.

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What are the benefits of being a sponsor?

• Provide a setting where research based approaches
  to learning can be implemented
• Provide opportunities for the students enrolled
  in a chartered school to make a closer connection
  to a higher education institution.
• Opportunities for departments within the college
  to offer internships, and a chance to share their
  expertise
• Opportunity to further extend the mission of the
  college. Chartered schools frequently serve
  marginalized students who are struggling in their
  current traditional large school system. Since
  chartered schools are frequently small they offer
  these students a chance to be known and become
  successful engaged citizens.
• Chartered schools tend serve diverse student
  groups

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The sponsor does not

• Provide revenue to the school
• Plan or run the school
• Manage employees or employment policies
• Assume financial responsibility or liability
• Assume responsibility for legal issues
• Manage and run performance indicators such as
  standardized tests, graduation rates, attendance
  policies, audits, etc.

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Where is Augsburg as a sponsor?

• Agreed to be a sponsoring institution
• Currently holds sponsorship contracts with two
  schools
• Collected data from currently operating schools
• Networking with other sponsoring agencies
• Hired a part time sponsor liaison to develop and
  monitor sponsorship criteria
• Providing field experience and work study
  students to El Colegio
• Currently developing sponsorship criteria and
  oversight tools

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Future Sponsorship criteria to consider

• Philosophy and mission of school
• Rationale for school (need)
• Geographic location of school
• Community being served
• Curriculum approach
• Supporting research
• Assessment indicators to be used to measure
  student success
• Level of community support
• Experience and education of developer(s)

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What are the next steps?

• Feedback and input from stakeholders
  (questionnaire, discussion groups, etc.)
• Develop advisory board
• Decide on sponsorship criteria (small schools,
  service learning focus, focus on diversity,
  geographic location etc.)
• Develop monitoring and accountability tools and
  procedures
• Monitor, review and support existing schools

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For further information regarding charter schools
you can contact me at

• Chris Brown
• Augsburg College Charter Liaison
• Memorial Hall 208
• 330-1545
• brownc_at_augsburg.edu