California Charter Schools Conference February 27, 2012

1. The Public Charter School Grant Program Workshop California Charter Schools ConferenceFebruary 27, 2012 Presented by: California Department of Education Charter Schools Division

2. Objective Develop/Increase Understanding of the Public Charter Schools Grant Program (PCSGP) Work Plan and Scoring Process.

3. PCSGP Grant • Supplements funding for new charter schools to build capacity to become high-quality sustainable schools. • Available for up to 36 months: • Planning Year • Two Implementation Years

4. High Quality Charter School • Meets or exceeds academic goals • Has sound governance • Is administered effectively • Has sound fiscal management • Is financially viable • Has effective teachers • Keeps its students • Elicits parent, student, staff, and community support

5. Work Plan Applicants must complete a Work Plan that includes capacity-building activities designed to enable the school to achieve the performance objectives in the school’s charter.

6. Capacity Building Activities • Correlated with the school’s charter • Designed to: • Build long-term sustainability • Be aligned with school’s academic achievement goals

7. Capacity Building Activities (cont.) • Governance Training (1A) • Fiscal Management Training (1B) • Development of Teacher Effectiveness Measures (1C) • Meeting and Exceeding Academic Progress Goals (2A) • Student Retention (2B) • Graduation Rate (high schools only) (2C)

8. Meeting and Exceeding Academic Progress Goals Prompt 2A • Includes four sub-prompts: • Providing professional development/teacher training • Using data to • Inform instruction • Evaluate programs • Evaluate professional staff • Engaging all students through varied instructional strategies • Using formative and summative assessments to improve instruction • Each sub-prompt must be developed fully

9. Work Plan Requirements Responses to prompts and sub-prompts should: • Reflect the school’s charter • Be developed by stakeholders • Include at least one objective • Include the full grant period

10. Work Plan Requirements (cont.) Each Work Plan objective should be followed by concrete activities that: • Include sufficient detail to monitor implementation • Are organized sequentially • Begin with action verbs • Capture the full scope of the work needed to meet the objective

11. Work Plan Requirements (cont.) • Each activity must include: • A specific timeline for completion • The person responsible for ensuring completion of the activity • The amount budgeted from the PCSGP grant for the activity

12. Timeline for Completion • Must include • A planned start and end date: October 1—December 15, 2012 • Weekly from September 15, 2012, to June 8, 2013 • August 20 – 31, 2012, and August 19 – 30, 2013 • All years of grant

13. Timeline for Completion (cont.) • Unacceptable timelines include: • “Ongoing” • Multi-year time spans (fall 2012 to spring 2013)

14. Person Responsible One individual should be responsible for each activity. This person is accountable for ensuring that the activity is completed. Example: Principal or Director

15. Amounts Budgeted for Activities • Evince what the school expects to spend for each activity • Link easily to CA Account Codes • Have first year costs easily identifiable in the first year Budget Report • Account for a majority of grant funds • Include all years of the grant

16. Cost Breakout for Activity Example: $2,430 • Consultant fees: 2 contractors @ $150 per hour X 8 hours (including two hours or preparation time = $2,400 • Materials: 25 pages X 24 copies X .05 per page = $30 • Teacher stipends = $0 part of regular contract time

17. Narrative Outline • Objective 1: • Activity 1: • Timeline: • Person Responsible: • Budget Cost: • Activity 2: • Timeline: • Person Responsible: • Budget Cost: • Objective 2

18. Narrative Outline • Objective 1: • Activity 1: • Timeline: • Person Responsible: • Budget Cost: • Activity 2: • Timeline: • Person Responsible: • Budget Cost: • Objective 2

19. Example of Completed Narrative Response Area: 2A–Use of Data (b) Objective 1: The school will develop and fully implement an assessment and monitoring system to track student mastery of key standards and appropriately modify instruction to improve student achievement.

20. Example (Cont.) Activity 1: Adopt user-friendly and easily accessible data management system. Timeline: By 6/1/2012 Person Responsible: Principal PCSGP $ Budgeted: $2,500 for office computer and printer, $10,000 for laptops with data management software for 8 teachers, $5,000 for data management software, $5,000 for consultant to set up system = $22,500 (100% of cost) in Planning Year

21. Example (Cont.) Activity 2: Establish explicit expectations and policies for the regular and uniform administration and analysis of common benchmark assessments. Timeline: By 6/30/2012 Person Responsible: Principal PCSGP $ Budgeted: $5,000 (5% of salary) in Planning Year.

22. Example (Cont.) Activity 3: Assign data administrator to maintain and update data system. Timeline: By 7/27/12 Person Responsible: Principal PCSGP $ Budgeted: $33,000 in Implementation Year 1(30 percent of salary of hired staff).

23. Example (Cont.) Activity 4: Develop common benchmark assessments at each grade level based on state standards. Timeline: 8/1/12–10/31/12 Person Responsible: Principal (to assign lead teacher at each grade level) PCSGP $ Budgeted: $32,000 in Implementation Year 1(20% salary X 8 teachers X .25)

24. Example (Cont.) Activity 5: Train all staff on adopted system, including the accurate entry and retrieval of data and the generation of data reports Timeline: 10/1/12 Person Responsible: Data Admin. PCSGP $ Budgeted: None

25. Example (Cont.) Activity 6: Train all staff on how to analyze assessment data and effectively apply data to modify classroom instruction and target student needs. Timeline: 11/5/12 Person Responsible: Principal PCSGP $ Budgeted: None

26. Example (Cont.) Activity 7: Establish common cut points for proficiency levels tied to the state performance levels. Timeline: By 11/15/12 Person Responsible: Principal (working with teacher leads) PCSGP $Budgeted: $8,000 in Implementation Year 1(teacher stipends for 16 hours after school).

27. Example (Cont.) Activity 8: Develop calendar for administering assessments (at six-week intervals). Timeline: By 11/15/12 Person Responsible: Principal (working with lead teachers) PCSGP $ Budgeted: None

28. Example (Cont.) Activity 9: Monitor that assessments are administered according to timetable. Timeline: To begin 12/1/12 Person Responsible: Principal and Data Administrator PCSGP $ Budgeted: None (ongoing activity and therefore not allowable cost under grant)

29. Example (Cont.) Activity 10: Schedule one period per six weeks for teachers to convene by grade level and examine student assessment data and strategies to increase learning. Timeline: To begin 1/15/13 and occurring every six weeks Person Responsible: Principal PCSGP $Budgeted: None (Teachers meet during regular school day).

30. Work Plan Scoringand Budget Review

31. Grant Screening and Scoring Handouts: • Rubric for Scoring the Public Charter Schools Grant Program Work Plan • Sample Budget Form

32. Work Plan Budgeted Costs • The Work Plan is reviewed to determine if the budgeted costs: • Are allowable, • Account for a majority of the grant funds requested, and • Include the complete grant period.

33. Sample Worksheet

34. Work Plan Scoring • A score of 1–4 is assigned to each prompt and sub-prompt within the Work Plan. • A score of 1 or 2 in any prompt or sub-prompt results in denial of the application.

35. Scoring Rubric 4 points: Excellent. There are major strengths contained in the response to the criteria. 3 points: Good. Strengths outweigh weaknesses. 2 points: Fair. Some important weaknesses. 1 point: Inadequate/Unsatisfactory. Major weaknesses outweigh any strengths.

36. Budget Report #1 Budget Report #1 is reviewed to determine if it includes all: • Work Plan costs for the first year and • Grant funds requested for the first year.

37. Sample Budget Section • FY 2011 Quarter 3 • Expenditure ($): 25,000 • Description (2,000 Characters or Less): Director’s salary (100% of salary) to attend CCSA conference, meet with authorizer, plan and conduct parent meetings, interview and hire staff, prepare draft handbook, work with office manager on opening procedures

38. Monitoring Work Plan

39. Quarterly Benchmark Reports (QBRs) • Grantees • Submit four reports: • January 15 (October–December) • April 15 (January–March) • July 15 (April–June) • October 15 (July–September) • Provide an update on implementation of Work Plan activities during the quarter by: • Describing all PCSGP expenditures • Reporting all PCSGP expenditures • Uploading documentation for all expenditures • CDE uses reports to verify appropriate use of funds and compliance with grant requirements

40. Work Plan Documentation Documentation of Work Plan activities may include: • Personnel Activity Reports • Invoices for equipment and materials • Consultant invoices or contracts • Expense reports with receipts • Certificates of Completion • Conference registration receipts • Letters from facilitators or board members to confirm training took place

41. Comprehensive Phase Report Grantees annually update the Work Plan in the Comprehensive Phase Report by describing the: • Progress of activities completed towards meeting the Work Plan objectives. • Relevance of expenditures toward meeting the Work Plan objectives.

42. Budget Report #2 Repeats the steps for Budget Report #1 looking at the Work Plan activities for the second year of grant funding.

43. Resources • Webcasts on the CDE Web site at http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cs/as/pcsgp2010.asp • PCSGP Request for Applications http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r1/pcsgp11rfa.asp