Office of Independent Education & Parental Choice
 |
Office of Independent Education & Parental Choice |
Charter Schools
About Florida's Charter Schools
Charter schools are public schools of choice. They are very popular—and among the fastest growing school choice options in Florida. Charter schools are largely free to innovate, and often provide more effective programs and choice to diverse groups of students.
Since 1996, the number of charter schools in Florida has grown to over 570 in 2012-13. Charter school student enrollment now tops 200,000 students.
Check out the Charter School Program Statistics (PDF, 133KB) for more details.
Announcements
New Applicant TrainingThe Department has scheduled three post-approval trainings throughout the state for the 2012 application cycle. Training is required for approved applicants only, or those pending approval or are in the process of an appeal. Visit the Applicant Training page for more information.
Charter Support Unit (CSU)
A major objective set forth in Florida’s 2011-16 Charter School Program (CSP) grant with the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) requires the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) to establish a Charter Support Unit (CSU). As stated in Florida’s 2011-16 CSP proposal to USDOE:
- Charter schools are most likely to fail within their first several years of operation. These failures are, often times, the result of deficiencies that are correctable if addressed early. As a strategy to address this issue, the Department proposes to create a Florida Charter Support Unit (CSU).
After conducting a comprehensive review of professional resources that could help Florida’s start-up and new charter schools, particularly in the areas of administration, curriculum, governance, and finance, Charter School Support Services Corporation (CSSC) was chosen to implement the Florida CSU project through a contract with the FDOE.
CSSC is a not-for-profit corporation that is dedicated to the success of Florida’s charter schools. CSSC is a division of Building Hope and has worked with dozens of charter schools throughout the State of Florida with services ranging from helping schools to secure loans, grants, and other funding sources, back office accounting support, and more.
Accordingly, the Florida CSU will provide direct assistance to start-up and nascent charter schools in Florida which are in their first three years of operation. More specifically, the Florida CSU will provide the following suite of services:
- Support Hotline
- Consultations
- School Reviews
- Document Reviews
- Webinar Series
- Charter Discussions
- Resource Repository
For direct assistance or to find additional information on the Florida CSU, please go to: http://www.flcsu.org/
CPALMS CHARTER
The Florida Charter Schools Online Learning Community Project entitled "CPALMS CHARTER", has been launched by the Florida State University School (FSUS). To access CPALMS CHARTER, go to:
http://www.floridastandards.org/project/cpalmscharter.aspx
For additional information about training opportunities for charter school teachers and leaders, contact mkendrick@admin.fsu.edu
VALUE-ADDED MODEL (VAM) for TEACHER EVALUATION
Recording (WMV, 37MB) and PDF (PDF, 395KB) of the 3/21/13 webinar with Kathy Hebda, Deputy Chancellor for Education Quality, and Adam Miller, Charter Schools Director, on the Florida Value-Added Model. Presentation provides an overview of Florida’s Value-Added Model and how it should be used for teacher evaluations.
Need help? E-mail your questions to charterschools@fldoe.org