Charter School Inclusion in EDT Data Analyses

Guidance

Even though an LEA may not have the authority to mandate hiring/firing/staffing decisions for a charter school, the ESEA requirement for ensuring that students of poverty and minority students have equitable access to experienced, effective, and in-field teachers applies to all LEAs receiving Title I funds, including their charter schools. Thus, an authorizing LEA should work to ensure that charter schools meet ESEA requirements while allowing the school’s leadership to determine how those requirements will be met.  

Since EDT data analyses include data for public charter schools with district public schools, when reviewing annual EDT data from the CDE, districts are asked to note the following for the various indicators:

• Effectiveness 
  • Charter schools with the applicable teacher evaluation and reporting waivers are not required to annually report to the CDE on the effectiveness of their teaching staff. These schools are excluded from EDT analyses conducted by CDE for teacher effectiveness indicators
• In-Field 
  • Charter schools receiving the state licensure waiver (22-63-201, C.R.S.) are exempted only from state licensure requirements. Because in-field status can be demonstrated through 3 other options (bachelor's degree, 36+ college credit hours, or passing a PRAXIS exam), charter schools are not excluded from the federal ESEA EDT requirements for in-field status.
  • Charters schools with licensure waivers are not excluded from EDT analyses.
  • Charter schools and the LEAs they are authorized under must still address any disproportionate rate of out-of-field teachers teaching students of poverty or minority students. 
  • LEAs with identified medium or large in-field gaps highly impacted by their charter schools have the option to complete an alternative calculator (see guidance on EDT home page) if local student/teacher level data demonstrates that  students of poverty or minority students are not taught at a disproportionate rate by out-of-field teachers.
    • If the LEA is not able to use alternative data/evidence from the charter school to demonstrate compliance with EDT requirements, the LEA will develop a plan to address any disparities/gaps:

(1) on behalf of the charter school,

(2) in collaboration with the charter school, OR

(3) by transferring that responsibility to the charter school.

Plans for charter schools will be included in the LEA’s Consolidated Application Title I, Part A Narrative Question 5.

• Experience 
  • There are no statutory requirements or waivers under state law for charters for hiring experienced teachers. 
  • Charters will be included in EDT analyses for experience indicators and are asked to take steps to either address any disparities/gaps with their LEA or to complete an alternative calculator as outlined in the In-Field section above.

Trainings

EDT for Charter Schools

Recorded on March 8th, 2022 - A high-level overview of Equitable Distribution of Teachers (EDT) and how it applies to charter schools. During this session, he shared updates and information around recent EDT disparities between charter schools and charter school authorizers and strategies and techniques that charter school practitioners can implement to prevent EDT disparities. (Recording | PowerPoint)