Charter authorizers often fly under the radar, and few people understand the link between authorizers, accountability and learning. Even fewer grasp that the lessons authorizers can teach can help all students achieve more.

The nature of charter schools is that they are granted the flexibility to meet children’s needs in return for accountability for meeting their promises to families and taxpayers. In order to set and meet these requirements, charter schools need an authorizer. A strong authorizer creates accountability by defining clear expectations for student outcomes, working alongside schools, families and communities to ensure they are met and driving change and improvement when schools don’t deliver on that promise. 

When accountability is at its best, it creates space for innovation. When standards for excellence are clear, schools have the freedom to assess and implement the right curriculum, staffing models and budgets in ways that creatively meet the needs of the students they serve. The result is that families have access to schools that offer and prioritize different things — from an arts focus to International Baccalaureate, language immersion or individualized learning — with the confidence that all are able to deliver high-quality outcomes.

As the president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, I interact with hundreds of charter authorizers on a regular basis. My organization has seen time and time again that a strong authorizer will have a strong accountability system, which in turn creates a greater number of students achieving at high levels and a shrinking number of kids learning below grade level. More simply put, the combination of authorizing, accountability and innovation almost always creates the results education professionals and families so desperately crave — improved student learning.

And this is not just from NACSA’s observations; it is backed up by research. A released last year by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University found that the majority of charter schools accelerated academic outcomes for students at impressive rates. CREDO designated more than 1,000 charter schools as “gap busters,” citing their ability to demonstrate strong results overall and close historically persistent achievement gaps. Impact like this is possible, in part, because authorizers hold and enforce high standards: saying “yes” and making it easier for students and families to access charter schools and networks with strong results, saying “no” to networks with poor results. The study described how important strong authorizing practices and accountability systems are in producing schools that can close gaps in student achievement. 

Sadly, while continues to point to the power of strong accountability in raising student outcomes, the term has for too long been associated with punishment and school closures, limiting the ability of superintendents, principals and even charter authorizers to rely on accountability measures as a tool for improving student learning. To be clear, persistently failing charter schools must be closed, and when that happens, students and families need to be equipped with the information, freedom and access necessary to select a school better suited for them. But strong accountability is so much more than that — it weaves together multiple measures of learning and success and relies on community, collaboration and access to resources as some of its core pillars.

If education advocates and practitioners could expand the understanding of this crucial lever for student achievement, it would become far easier for more schools, districts and states to truly invest in the practice of accountability.

Increasing numbers of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are acting as incubators for innovation in the teaching profession, and helping to grow the nation’s Black teacher pipeline.

The 74 recently partnered with the Progressive Policy Institute for an online panel examining how HBCUs are key contributors to bolstering Black educators.

In the replay below, you’ll hear from experts Katherine Norris of Howard University’s College of Education, Dr. Artesius Miller of Morehouse College and Utopian Academy for the Arts Charter School, Sharif El-Mekki from the Center for Black Teacher Development and The 74’s Marianna McMurdock. Watch the full conversation:

Go Deeper: Explore our recent coverage of the teacher workforce below.

• How Black Educators in America’s Fastest-Shrinking City Are Reimagining Teacher Pipelines

• Teacher Prep Programs See ‘Encouraging’ Growth, New Federal Data Reveal

• Breaking Down the Walls to Teaching: Alternative Pipelines Boom

• Preserving Black History Starts with Ensuring There Are Black Teachers

Join The 74 and the Progressive Policy Institute at 1 p.m. ET Wednesday for an online panel discussing the influence of HBCUs in revolutionizing K-12 education. You’ll hear from leaders Dr. Kathryn Procope, executive director of Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science; Dr. Angela Lang, founder of I Dream Big Charter School at Stillman College; and Dr. Quinhon Scott, executive director of Coppin Academy High School at Coppin University. Curtis Valentine of PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools Project will moderate. 

or tune in to this page Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET to stream the event.

Recent coverage of K-12 innovation from The 74: 

• 189 Innovative School Leaders: Teacher Staffing, AI, Mental Health Top Ed Issues
  
• 40 Years After ‘A Nation At Risk,’ Could Curriculum Reform Finally Move the Needle on Academic Improvement?
  
• Black Education Entrepreneurs — and Parents — Are Pushing the Boundaries of School Choice
  
• National Poll Finds Overwhelming Support Among Black Teachers & Parents for ESAs

Join The 74 and the Progressive Policy Institute at 1 p.m. ET Thursday for an online panel examining the role HBCUs can play as charter school authorizers, providing stronger oversight and governance and thus ensuring better educational opportunities for students. You’ll hear from experts Dr. Nina Gilbert of Morehouse College, Dr. Karega Rausch of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, and Dr. Evelyn Edney of Delaware State University.

or tune in to this page Thursday at 1 p.m. ET to stream the event.