Communities across the country are struggling to meet parental demand for high quality school options, including high-performing charter schools. Yet, with hundreds of new charter schools opening every year, not nearly enough of them offer the quality education that parents crave and kids deserve. Indeed, far too many fail to deliver education any better than the troubled neighborhood schools that they are meant as alternatives to.
But a new model for charter school growth has taken root in several cities and it appears to be boosting quality as well as quantity. Charter “incubators” are accelerating the launch and development of top-flight charter schools in communities that need them most. Incubators offer the promise of not only more school choice but schools that reliably deliver academic results.
Join us at the Fordham Institute to hear from leaders that are running some of the best of these new organizations. Co-sponsored by the Cities for Education Entrepreneurship Trust (CEE-Trust), this discussion will analyze the key findings from a new policy brief by Public Impact, and provide lessons on how federal, state and local policymakers can help launch new quality charter schools while encouraging the culling of weak ones.
Introduction | |
 | Terry Ryan, Vice President for Ohio Programs & Policy, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute |
Panelists | |
 | Neerav Kingsland, Chief Strategy Officer, New Schools for New Orleans |
 | David Harris, Founder and CEO, the Mind Trust (Indianapolis) |
 | Al Fan, Executive Director, Charter School Partners (Minneapolis) |
Moderator | |
 | Bryan Hassel, Co-Director, Public Impact |