In 2004, after realizing that the Charter School Leadership Council, a loose coalition of pro-charter school organizations, couldn't meet the needs of the burgeoning charter school sector, a number of the nation's top charter leaders created the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The organization's first order of business was finding an executive capable of taking a strategic plan and a bit of money in the bank and turning it into a substantive and effective organization.
Over the next five years, the leader they selected, Nelson Smith, built the Alliance into a trusted resource for research and assistance and a formidable force on advocacy. ??Today the organization stands as one of DC's finest education reform groups, providing leadership for arguably the most important and promising systemic innovation since the development of the traditional school district a century ago. It is this legacy that Smith will leave behind; today, he announced he is stepping down as President and CEO.
I was fortunate enough to work with Nelson from the earliest days of the Alliance through late 2007. He joined the organization with the right blend of experiences and expertise. He had done time at the U.S. Department of Education, New American Schools, the D.C. Public Charter School Board, the New York City Partnership, and more. He had a deep understanding of state and federal policy, effective school models, choice, accountability, and, most importantly, the promise of chartering. Many of his contributions to the Alliance speak for themselves: the staff is expert, the organization consistently influences policy decisions in state capitals and inside the beltway, and U.S. Secretaries of Education and other luminaries keynote the Alliance's annual conference attended by thousands.
But a number of Smith's subtler contributions deserve attention. When others were still focused on charter school choice, he launched a task force on quality that was populated by the leaders of the sector's highest performing schools. He was always mindful of keeping the organization nonpartisan. He worked to build state-level school support capacity and was conscious of expanding and diversifying the sector's pipeline of human capital. He was level-headed and forthright about research findings--good and bad--enabling the organization to be both an honest broker and advocate. And he never forgot that chartering was about more than starting a new school here or there; it was about cultivating an entirely new system for delivering public education so kids, particularly those of modest means, would always have access to high-quality schools that meet their particular needs.
The national charter sector is built on a simple policy mechanism, but today it comprises thousands of schools and well over a million students. Nelson deserves recognition for his meaningful role in helping build its current national??standing as a growing, bipartisan force for choice, accountability, and quality in public education.
Thanks, congratulations, and best wishes.
--Andy Smarick