Burlington Public Library

This guide is designed to provide guidance and practical help for the administrator to successfully fulfill the enormous responsibilities and avoid many operational challenges. This guide summarizes what a charter school administrator needs to be aware of and offers links to resources where more detailed information in a specific area can be found.

In an effort to improve the quality of education provided to all students in the state, Colorado has: adopted new academic standards that represent what students should know and be able to do at each level of their schooling; implemented school and district accountability strategies that are tied to unified improvement planning; and adopted standards for educators who will be evaluated annually.

With the passage of Senate Bill 10-191 (S.B. 10-191), Colorado is improving its approach to evaluating the performance of principals, teachers and specialized service professionals (referred to as other licensed personnel in law and State Board of Education rules). Implementation of this new approach will take time and commitment from both the state and its school districts. The principal/assistant principal teacher and specialized service professionals...

Colorado has created evaluation rubrics for principals, teachers and nine categories of specialized service professionals designed to capture evidence of professional practices relating to effectiveness. The performance management system includes electronic interfaces and data collection tools for the evaluation rubrics, measures of student learning/outcomes, final effectiveness ratings, and reports with useful and actionable feedback for educators....

Kozol visited 60 schools in 11 states over a five-year period and finds, despite the promise of Brown v. Board of Education, many schools serving black and Hispanic children are spiraling backward to the pre-Brown era. These schools lack the basics: clean classrooms, hallways and restrooms; up-to-date books in good condition; and appropriate laboratory supplies. Teachers and administrators eschew creative coursework for rote learning to meet testing...

Prim headmistress Honoria Hewitt can't believe she let herself get talked into such a humiliating predicament. If her family's school, the Hewitt Academy, didn't desperately need the money, there's no way she would be standing on stage in a body-hugging red dress waiting for eligible bachelors to bid on her like some door prize. Not that she expects any man to ante up for her....especially not gorgeous playboy Alexander Vandencort........