Pub. 5 2015-2016 Issue 1

22 The intent of the Charter Fidelity Survey was threefold: (1) To encourage school governing boards to evaluate their charters and the school’s adherence to its defined mission, vision, and purpose within that charter document; (2) To collect a general set of data on charter schools’ fidelity to performance goals and program descriptions within their charters; (3) To promote the idea of accountability to one’s charter through review and evaluation of the principles contained therein. The Charter Fidelity Survey seemed to be a simple way to look at a school’s performance goals along with a sampling of elements pulled from the program description in the charter agreement for each school. The sampling was not all-inclusive, but was meant to perform in the style of a financial audit, where randomly selected pieces of a school’s program descrip- tion were extracted and surveyed as an auditor might do with receipts and other financial pieces. The results of the survey were interesting. We found that many schools had evolved beyond the program descriptions within their charters. We also found that many performance goals within those charter documents were outdated and that schools had either aban- doned them altogether or were failing to meet expectations set by the founding board. Both of these circumstances are understandable as charter agreements are written sometimes years before a school actually opens its doors to students and when everything is still in the development stage. When the reality of students at desks enters the equation, sometimes our goals, programs, and outcomes change. Now that the surveys are complete, what is the next step? As stated in the Charter Fidelity Survey, the ideal outcome of the process would be to have governing boards discover areas needing change and either revise school practice to align with their charter or amend the charter to align with school practice. If you choose to amend your charter, program descriptions would likely be updated along with a revision of the performance goals and a new charter agreement signed. Understanding Charter Fidelity D uring 2014-2015, schools authorized by the State Charter School Board (SCSB) received a Charter Fidelity Survey. The SCSB is required by law to “annually review charter agreements” and ensure charter schools “comply with their charter agreements” (R277-481-3 and U.C.A. 53A-1a-501.6). BY DR. JOE HEYWOOD, EDUCATION SPECIALIST, STATE CHARTER SCHOOL BOARD STAFF