Secret is a funny word. Sometimes secrets aren't really that secret, but are really just a combination of obvious statements put together in one place.
How about this for a list?
- An engaging teaching staff
- Good financial management and oversight
- A rational board that maintains a strategic direction
- A supportive parent community
- An administrative staff that supports the mission
- A cooperative authorizer
Students learn when they are engaged. The school thrives when it's not constantly worried about going out of business. A rational board can strategize and ignore the peripheral. Supportive parents find ways to support their children and the school, even when they don't agree with everything that happens. An administrative staff that realizes its role as a support team for the engaging teaching staff doesn't exist for itself. A good authorizer will understand and support the school, even if it isn't "charter friendly."
Some of these elements are more or less important at various stages of the charter's growth and development, but all are there and helpful at all stages to one degree or another.
1 comment:
Good list. I would add one thing: Teachers who are willing and able to take on leadership positions.
I'm not sure if this needs to be all of the teachers in a small charter school, or just a certain critical percentage. What's your opinion?
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