success in reaching their own set objectives and goals.”

Under current law, charter schools must outline outcomes for student academic and enrichment performance, and how these outcomes will be measured, in their charter petition to the authorizing school district. Also under current law, charters must be reviewed at least once every five years for renewal, by their authorizing school district.  However, current law does not connect these outcomes to charter renewal requirements.  Additionally current law and measurements do not provide a complete picture of their successes that are consistent with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes specified as goals in the school’s educational program.

AB x5 3, the Charter School Accountability Act of 2009 will require applicant charter schools submit specific student academic and enrichment data and ways of measurement in their petition.   This data will be used by the authorizing school district to consider the petition and charter renewal.  Individual charter school data will be submitted annually to the authorizing agency, the State Department of Education, and the State Board of Education. Existing charter schools will be required to submit outcomes to their authorizing agency no later than 2012, and this data will be used for charter renewal decisions.  Additionally, the legislation would also remove the statewide charter cap.  Charter schools will be encouraged to develop standards that are beyond those currently required of all public schools.

“When it comes to our schools and our kids, one size does not fit all,” said Torlakson.  “To get a true sense of achievement within a school, we must provide a complete evaluation that focuses on the goals of the program.”

Torlakson said he hopes that charter schools can set new standards for evaluation that eventually can be adopted by more public schools.“Charter schools were created to be innovators, to try new things and find new and better ways for our children to learn.  As we discover these new techniques, they should be replicated in public schools as well,” Torlakson said.

Within the Race to the Top Initiative, states must eliminate any barriers to new, high quality charter school as well as show progress in adopting internationally benchmarked standards, alternative teacher recruitment, effectively using data to evaluate teachers, and turning around our lowest performing schools in order to be eligible for one-time federal grant dollars.