what to expect when you're expanding

Copyright © 2017 Charter School Capital, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What to Expect

When Your

ExpandingCharter School Best

Practices

2Copyright © 2017 Charter School Capital, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

WELCOME

Daniel Hughes

President and CEOWe Believe in Arizona

Stuart Ellis

President and CEOCharter School Capital


DISCOVERY CREEMOS


We Believe in Arizona

SCHOOL BACKGROUND

• Founded 15 years ago

• Serves at risk children PK to 8th grade

• Schoolwide Title 1, NSLP (P2)

• Began with less than 100 students, now

serves over 600

• Utilizes wide range of funding sources

• Suffered catastrophic losses FY13-15

• Recovered and increased revenues by

$2M annually after installation of new

leadership in FY16

• Startup – Mature – Recovery


WHAT WE’LL COVER

• Charter school expansion stages

• Challenges school operators face at each stage

• Best practices and takeaways

Agenda

Presentation is available to download at

CharterSchoolCapital.org/Webinars


Stages of Growth


STAGES OF GROWTH

# of

Students

Start-up

Survival/Establish

Growth

Flexibility/Stability

Sustainable Maturity

Efficiency

Time

(years)

0 2-3 5-10

100%

Students as

a % of

mature

targets

10-25% 25-90% 90-100%


CHALLENGES

Reasons for charter school closures

42%

24%

19%

6%

5% 4%

Financial

Mismanagement

Academic

Authorizer Obstacles

Facilities

Other

Source: The State of Charter Schools,

The Center For Education Reform, December 2011


STAGES OF GROWTH

Strategic approach

Start-up Growth Sustainability

Financing

Facilities

Community

involvement

Academic

accountability

Operational

support


STAGES OF GROWTH

Strategic approach


Financing Any liquidity

Facilities In target locale

Community

involvement

Awareness

Academic

accountability

Establish program

Operational

support

Outside experts


STAGES OF GROWTH

Strategic approach


Financing Any liquidity Flexible/ scalable

Facilities In target locale Modular

Community

involvement

Awareness Fulfill the promise

Academic

accountability

Establish program Measure program

Operational

support

Outside experts Transitional

resources


STAGES OF GROWTH

Strategic approach


Financing Any liquidity Flexible/ scalable Cost

Facilities In target locale Modular Curb appeal/ cost

Community

involvement

Awareness Fulfill the promise Fabric of

community

Academic

accountability

Establish program Measure program Continuous

improvement

Operational

support


resources

In-house team


STAGES OF GROWTH

Strategic approach


Financing Any liquidity Flexible/ scalable Cost

Facilities In target locale Modular Curb appeal/ cost

Community

involvement


community

Academic

accountability


improvement

Operational

support


resources

In-house team


STAGES OF GROWTH

• Different structures of working capital

– Receivable sale

– Term loan

– Line of credit

• Facilities financing options

– Lease option

– Bond

– Traditional bank loan

• Regarding costs of funds, all costs are NOT created equal

– Evaluate total $ cost rather than % rate

– Consider fixed transactional costs and penalties, in addition to annual rate related to costs

Finance considerations


GROWTH ESTIMATOR


The Start-up Phase


STAGES OF GROWTH

Start-up

Common Misperceptions

Founding team to “create” best practices

“If you build it, they will come.”

Strong educational program is only one component

Grants are free money


STAGES OF GROWTH

Start-up

The Challenges

Finding good leadership and teachers

Securing resources

Finding suitable facilities

Healthy enrollment

Sustaining high performance as network expands


STAGES OF GROWTH

Start-up

Best Practices

Study and meet with schools doing things well

Don’t be a master of everything. Master a few things and do them really

well

Build genuine and robust relationships with teachers, leaders, vendors,

and external constituents

Pay close attention to the budget

Pay even closer attention to student progress data

Do not waiver in your belief or mission


The Growth Phase


STAGES OF GROWTH

Growth


“After the 3rd year, all will be in place and it’s smooth sailing!”

Performance and accountability requirements will be stagnant

Done with professional development

No need to change routines or systems

We’ll have sufficient funds from operating revenue to support expansion

Facility upgrades will be minimal, if at all


STAGES OF GROWTH

Growth

Challenges

Maintaining high expectations and being flexible

Maintaining your culture as you expand

Retaining quality teachers and leaders

Advancing levels of student performance

Upgrading systems to support growth

Matching capital to operational needs


STAGES OF GROWTH

Growth

Best Practices

Build on the culture

Continuous professional development and leadership training

Focus on individualized instruction and data analysis

Develop systems for your operations to maintain consistency and

efficiency


Personal Affirmation

EXAMPLE

26


The Sustainable Maturity Phase


STAGES OF GROWTH

Sustainable maturity


The hard work is behind us

Time to cash in

Challenges decrease as you scale


STAGES OF GROWTH


The Challenges

Focus, engage, act

Right team on the right bust in the right seats

Recalibration


STAGES OF GROWTH


Best Practices

Strategic enrollment = Stable performance

Develop data-driven culture and retain the passion that got you started

Celebrate your successes and analyze your failures as strategic opportunities

Develop pillars that define what you do – core strategies for your “preferred future”

Assess all management systems regularly and use assessment to improve


EXAMPLE

Collaborative Teaching Model


EXAMPLE

Growth Model


EXAMPLE


Learning | Engagement | Academic | PortfolioMeasurement System

What do we mean by

Growth Mindset?Instead of labeling students withdiscouraging static classifications

such as “C for Average”, “F for Failure”,etc., we encourage students to see

themselves as being guided along a pathof growth towards the next level of mastery,

and Not Yet finished with their progress

toward becoming an independent learner. With the growth mindset our students

(and teachers) gain the power of believing that they can improve.*

“We believe, therefore we can.”

EXAMPLE


Engagement

Behavior Based Measurement System

Novice

Understudy

InquiryAsks questions for Clarification and a deeper understanding of the subject or materials

Explorer

Titles based on

Mastery of Engagement

Engagement BehaviorsDemonstrated by Students

Student observed weekly, demonstrating various levels of participation during class.Using Class Dojo, teacher posts weekly student engagement photo and records subjective points (1-4).

Asks questions for clarification

Sometimes asksquestions for clarification

Does not yet ask questions

DiscussionInitiates, leads, and participates in classdiscussions

Participates in class discussions

Sometimes participates in class discussions

Does not yet participate in class discussions

CollaborationEngages colleagues for support and feedback

Engages colleagues

Sometimes engages colleagues

Does not yetengage during instruction

EmpathyEncourages and validates others’ beliefs, thoughts & ideas, even with arguments for opposition

Encourages and validates others’ beliefs, thoughts and ideas

Sometimesencourages and validates others’ beliefs, thoughts and ideas

Does not yet seek to encourage and validate others’ beliefs, thoughts and ideas

ToneEngages with respectful tones, gestures and body language

Uses respectful tones, gestures and body language to communicate

Works towards using respectful tones, gestures and body language to communicate

Does not yet use respectful tones, gestures and body language to communicate

StudyFocused on going beyond the expectations for projects and assignments

Meets expectations for projects and assignments

Sometimes meets expectations for projects and assignments

Does not yet meet or understand expectations for projects and assignments

Master

EXAMPLE


Engagement [Instructional]

Behavior Based Measurement System

NoviceLevel 1

UnderstudyLevel 2

ExplorerLevel 4

Titles based on

Mastery of Engagement

Instructional EngagementDanielson Framework Tool Domain 3

During observations coaches use the Danielson Framework Tool to assess and evaluate the teacher's proficiency in successfully engaging their students with instruction.

Questions & Discussions

Thought provoking & student-driven debatequestions & topics; comprehensive inclusion

Thought provoking debate questions & reasoning; majorityparticipation

One sided questions, predictable answers, limited debate, reasoning, and participation

Rapid, over simplified, teacher driven Q & A, recitation, reasoning & participation not yet developed

Learning & Instruction

Pacing,structure,tasks align with goals; students are engaged, challenged, inquire independently, collaborate, reflect and consolidate

Pacing,structure,tasks align with goals; work shows students are engaged and challenged

Pacing,structure,tasks somewhat align with goals; students are passive, compliant, and somewhat challenged

Pacing,structure,tasks not yet aligned with goals; students give predictable responses with singular perspective

Assessments

Self, peer, & teacher assessments, questions, criteria & feedback are integrated, collaborative, accurate & show differentiated learning

Teacher assessments, questions & criteria are understood & show group learning; feedback is accurate & specific; some self assessment

Some teacher assessments, questions & criteria are understood & show whole class learning; feedback is general; rare self assessments

Teacher assessments, questions & criteria are not yet understood; little to no monitoring of learning, feedback, and self/peer assessments

Flexibility & Response

Variety of student centered strategies & improvisations; additional resources used, challenges turned into opportunities

Student interests, questions & challenges met with a variety of strategies & improvisation

Student interests, questions & challenges met with minimal strategy & improvisation; responsible teacher

MasterLevel 3

T

Communication

Student centered purpose, procedures, direction, strategies, explanations and communication

Clear purpose, procedures, direction, strategies, explanations and communication

Purpose, procedures, direction, strategies, explanations and communication somewhat developed

Purpose, procedures, direction, strategies, explanations and communication not yet developed

Student interests, questions & challenges not yet met with strategy / improvisation; teacher blames student / home

EXAMPLE


Recap


STAGES OF GROWTH

Recap


Financing Any liquidity Flexibility/scalabil

ity

Cost

Facilities In target locale Modular Curb appeal/cost

Community

involvement


community

Academic

accountability


improvement

Operational

support


resources

In-house team


STAGES OF GROWTH

• Stages in charter school lifecycle present very different challenges

• Strategy and focus needs to vary significantly as you grow

• Leverage experts at every stage to allow you to focus on educating kids

• Financial analysis illuminates positive potential impact of growth and scale

Key takeaways


Questions?Presentation available at: CharterSchoolCapital.org/Webinars


Thank You

Presentation available at:

CharterSchoolCapital.org/Webinars

Stuart Ellis, [email protected]

877-272-1001

Daniel Hughes, [email protected]

800-993-1458 x 9100