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Why Now is the Best Time to Revise Your LCAP for Next Year!

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by Jennifer Reyes, Ed.D., Educational Support Services Manager

October 2, 2018

California charter schools, think back to your experience updating your 17-18 LCAP.  Did you feel overwhelmed by too many goals and metrics?  Outdated actions and services?  Unclear budgeted expenditures?  Lack of available data for any of the sections?  If you experienced any of these frustrations, now is a great time to work on revising your 19-20 LCAP.

Why now? 

A central tenet of the Local Control Funding Formula is the engagement of all stakeholders in the process of updating and revising a school or district’s LCAP.  Starting the process now allows you time to bring the needs to your advisory bodies, Board, staff, parents, and secondary students.  If you work on the LCAP now you can engage your school site council in understanding the LCAP and develop proposed changes. Then you can bring it to the school community for input all in time for a smooth update next spring.

By contrast, schools that rush through changes in the spring may find there is no time to consider all relevant data and develop a plan that has full support and staying power.

What to do?

Here are some examples of changes schools can make to increase the relevance of the LCAP and improve the process:

  • Organize your metrics under a few (3-5) powerful goals that all stakeholders can articulate.
  • Set up your financials according to LCFF guidelines for base, supplemental, and concentration funds.
  • Update your actions and services to convey your school’s current initiatives.

A fall or winter revision also frees up the time you need to focus your spring efforts on the 18-19 LCAP Update that is due July 1. You will need to collect and analyze data from the current academic year during this time.  The LCAP process provides greater flexibility to LEAs to plan and measure their success, but at the same time demands a new level of organization, involvement, and transparency.  If your LCAP could use some improvement, there is no time like the present to get started!

If you have any questions about your LCAP or LCAP Support Services, feel free to reach out to Jennifer by filling out this form and she will get back to you.

Get Your School’s Performance Data Renewal Ready!

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By Annice Weinstein, Senior Manager, Assessment Data & Analysis

December 14, 2017

Charter renewal is a very time intensive process, and it can be even more demanding if you haven’t already collected the necessary performance data. The following three steps will set you up to have your data ready when the time comes to start working on your renewal petition, so you can focus your energy on putting together a sound analysis and a strong narrative that highlight your school’s achievements!

  • Download your student level data files for state tests as soon as the state makes them available. These files may not be available in your account when it’s time for renewal, so it’s best to download the files annually as they are released. For example, the Test Operations Management System (TOMS) currently stores just two years of summative test results, so make sure to have your LEA CAASPP coordinator download the files as soon as the state indicates they are ready. You can find the files in TOMS (https://caaspp.ets.org/) under Reports (on the left), LEA Reports. Scroll down to the bottom to download the Student Results Report-Student Score Data Extract for each year available. CalTAC has recently removed the 2014-15 files, so you may need to contact them directly if you didn’t already download these files. You may reach CalTAC at 800-955-2954 or caltac@ets.org.
  • Keep track of your comparison schools. Does your authorizer require comparisons to specific schools? Are there other schools in your area, or schools with demographics or programs similar to yours, that you strive to outperform? If most of the relevant comparison schools are within the same district, take a look at the California School Dashboard Five-by-Five grids to see how your school stacks up on the Dashboard indicators: http://www6.cde.ca.gov/californiamodel/. And keep an eye on your Academic Accountability Report with the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA): http://snapshots.ccsa.org/aar. CCSA produces a Similar Students Measure that will give you an idea of how your school’s performance on the SBAC compares to that of demographically similar schools.
  • Select LCAP performance metrics that track longitudinal progress for the same set of students. This will help you stay on track with annual data collection and give you a boost when you want to share your longitudinal progress on local assessments with your authorizers. The metrics can include performance on NWEA MAP, developmental reading assessments, or i-Ready. Working the tests into your LCAP metrics is a good way to ensure that you review progress annually and have the data necessary for your renewal.

Keep Calm and Review Your CALPADS Reports!

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By Gerald Cockrell, Data and Categorical Program Specialist

November 13, 2017

Given the large amount of data reported for CALPADS Fall I, and the multitude of certification reports available, it can be difficult to determine which data are the most important and where to find them!  To help ease the frustration, we’ve created a list of the most important reports and included detail about the information each report contains and who should be reviewing them.

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There are many other reports available as well, but starting with the ones listed in this table will provide a clear view of the data that affect your funding and accountability.  As a reminder, special attention should be paid to FRPM data, EL data, and high school graduate data.

If you have any concerns about the data being reported for Fall I, feel free to reach out to EdTec’s data team to discuss how we can help. You can reach Gerald at gerald.cockrell@edtec.com, or 213.292. 6620 x414.

EdTec’s Going to CSDC 2017!

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October 13, 2017

EdTec will be attending the 2017 Charter Schools Development Center Conference as a sponsor, exhibitor, and presenter! The conference takes place November 16-17 in San Diego at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. We’ll be at Booth #54 at the Exhibitor Fair, so be sure to stop by and say hello to our staff!

We’re also excited to share that EdTec staff will present two sessions at the conference. The first session is designed for school leaders thinking about expansion or replication. We invite you to attend “Successful Charter School Expansion and Growth” on Friday, November 17 from 1:30pm – 2:45pm in room Gaslamp A, with Chang Patel, Senior Client Manager at EdTec, and Alison Suffet-Diaz, Founder and Executive Director of Environmental Charter Schools. Attendees will learn best practices from charter schools that have achieved successful expansion and growth, and will walk away with an understanding of important issues to consider in the decision making process, such as funding, facilities, talent recruitment, the pros and cons of various charter management organization (CMO) models, replication vs. expansion, and more.

Later on Friday, school leaders will have an opportunity to learn how to best prepare for their upcoming audits at our second session, “Prepare For Your Audit”, presented by Amita Parikh, Client Manager at EdTec, along with James Rotherham of Squar Milner, at 3:00pm – 4:15pm in room Gaslamp B. The presenters will offer expert advice on implementing fiscal policies, understanding various requests, and interacting with auditors.

We look forward to a productive two days of learning with California’s talented charter school leaders. Remember to stop by Booth #54 and say hello!

Join Us for EdTec’s Charter Schools Night with the Dodgers!

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April 7, 2017

EdTec has partnered with the L.A. Dodgers to plan Charter Schools Night with the Dodgers,
scheduled for Friday, May 19 at 7:10pm! We invite you to enjoy the game, mingle with other charter schools, and spend time with your staff, students, and parents!

Details:

  • Tickets are discounted at the group sale price of $23/each!
  • Schools must sell a minimum of 20 tickets to participate.
  • EdTec will reserve the seats; schools will collect their own order forms and payment.
  • All schools will be seated together in the Preferred Reserve sections.
  • Schools can make this a fundraiser by selling the tickets for a higher price, or choose to keep them at $23 to increase participation.

Click here to request more information!

We hope to see you at the game! Go Blue!

EdTec exhibits at CSDC Conference Dec 8-9, 2016 in San Diego!

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Find out about our LCAP, Grant Research & Writing, and SIS & SAS Support Services as well as our best-in-class business services. Find out more information about the conference here.

Missed the Charter Leadership Forums?

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YM&C, EdTec, and SchoolMint partnered to provide a FREE, full-day symposium covering a multitude of fiscal, operational, and legal issues for charter school developers and operators. If you missed the forum you can download EdTec’s presentation: Closing Your Funding Gap: LCFF Implementation and the Role of Fundraising.