Top News Stories

National Charter Schools Conference Coming
The National Charter Schools Conference is just around the corner, February 28 - March 3. The Alliance is hosting this year's event, which will be held Sacramento, California.

Two Great New Resources Available
The Education Commission of the States (ECS) and the National Charter School Research Project (NCSRP) have launched easy-to-navigate websites with great new data on charter schooling. The NCSRP database provides information on the state of charter schooling in each state. The ECS database provides information on the state policies that govern charters.

Alliance Receives Major Grant From Gates Foundation
The Alliance has received an $800,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help support the organization's efforts to increase public awareness and improve charter school quality and accountability. "This investment enables the Alliance to continue working to increase the number of high-performing charter schools available to all families, particularly those who don't have access to quality public schools," said Alliance president Nelson Smith.

NAEP Shows Charters Excelling
Results from the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show dramatic improvement by charter school fourth graders, particularly among Latino, African-American, and low-income students. Alliance President Nelson Smith said, "These findings confirm those of national and state-level studies showing strong gains in achievement among public charter schools."

The Alliance's Regional Policy Meetings
This fall, the Alliance hosted four regional policy meetings so charter stakeholders from across the country could discuss national policy priorities for the coming year. These discussions covered NCLB, assessments, IDEA, and much more. A final report on these meetings will be released soon.
Meeting Summaries: