MCSAB staff will meet with each charter school to review their trial framework results beginning in January.
The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board (MCSAB) adopted a new school performance framework on Monday. The new performance framework is aligned with national standards of best practice and is similar to frameworks used by other high-quality authorizers including Tennessee’s Department of Education’s Model Performance Framework.
“Charter authorizers must have full confidence in their performance framework to ensure only those schools demonstrating the capacity to deliver high quality education to children while protecting the public’s interest are allowed to continue operating,” said Dr. Lisa Karmacharya, Executive Director of the MCSAB. “By working alongside school leaders throughout the trial run to ensure the framework measures outcomes appropriately, the MCSAB will be positioned to implement a fair and transparent performance framework.”
Mississippi’s charter school law requires the MCSAB to annually evaluate each charter school’s academic performance and organizational and financial health. The performance framework is the primary tool used to determine school renewal decisions.
In spring 2020, The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) conducted an authorizer evaluation, which concluded MCSAB should “strengthen its performance framework to ensure that it holds schools to clear and rigorous expectations” and “it is critical that MCSAB aligns all monitoring and renewal policies to this revised framework to promote transparency and clarity regarding performance expectations.” The Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) also noted by reference and recommendation the need for MCSAB to continue to develop a robust framework that includes multiple metrics and to codify an intervention protocol appropriate for all performance domains.
Many of the revisions to the new performance framework were based on feedback received throughout the process of interviews and meetings with charter school leaders and stakeholders earlier this year. The draft framework was adopted in July 2021, followed by a legal review and comment period, and officially released for public comment through the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) in September 2021. MCSAB held a public hearing on the framework on October 27, 2021.
In collaboration with school leaders, the MCSAB will conduct a trial run of the performance framework beginning in January of 2022. Any modifications that may be needed will be addressed before the framework is fully implemented in fall 2022.
MCSAB staff will meet with each charter school to review their trial framework results from January through April of 2022. In April and May, MCSAB staff and board members will collaborate with stakeholders and charter school leaders to review results and make any necessary revisions.
Charter schools are public schools that receive state, local, and federal funding just like traditional public schools.
Frank Corder
