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Contents:

• Preface
• Part I: Curriculum 
         Overview
         Recommended Models
• Part II: Assessment
         Overview
         Subject, Frequency, Effectiveness
         Assessment Mechanisms/Models
•  Part III: Teacher Quality
•  Part IV: Finance/Governance/Administration

The burgeoning charter school movement has already, in its infancy, demonstrated the power of diversity in education. For many decades, American public schools seemed to be cut from the same mold. Most differences came from student demography-income level, ethnicity-not from curriculum or teaching methods. Today charter schools give evidence of unprecedented variety, even as they work with hugely different student populations. 

For example, some charter schools have been founded to address social problems, to teach respect, discipline, and orderliness, in communities ravaged by pathologies of violence and crime. Others aim to provide opportunities for high school drop-outs to enter a purposeful program and train for occupations, with links to local businesses. 

Yet other charter schools maintain the traditional curriculum but with an emphasis on "experiential" education that takes students outside the classroom and connects their learning to the wider world. Still other charter schools embrace a mission to center K-8 education on the mastery of basic knowledge and cultural background-or to make high school far more academically demanding than it typically has been. In this inventive environment, of course, many charter schools combine elements of all these models. 

The Charter School Accreditation program of the American Academy for Liberal Education does not aim to be all things to all charter schools, but rather to accredit those that embrace a strong liberal arts mission-the last profile noted above. It is our conviction, based on reason and the evidence of research, that rigorous academics promote exceptional levels of achievement among all students. This is especially true among those who have long been left behind by mainstream schools-the poor and minorities. Making school intellectually challenging, we believe, will help reinvigorate American public education and restore it to its democratic mission.

But what makes a charter school academically rigorous? What exactly should a student, a parent, a community leader, be looking for to indicate a school's commitment to high liberal arts standards? What should principals and faculty be doing-in detail? 

In the pages that follow, we offer an overview of the four areas that AALE evaluates in its accreditation process: Curriculum, Assessment/Testing, Teacher Quality, and Finance and Governance. Those who apply to us for our "seal of approval" must be in substantial compliance with the standards and recommendations we make here. 

We hasten to add, however, that our observations and recommendations are not meant to be exhaustive. There are exemplary charter schools that differ in small and even large ways from the general and particular features we point to here. But they will also have much in common with what you read here.

Overview

AALE curriculum standards require charter schools to demonstrate that all their students benefit from intensive instruction and academic rigor in the liberal arts, and to link instruction to assessment so that there is solid evidence of learning. AALE recognizes that students' backgrounds and preparation may vary greatly; but even so, such variations must not be used to deprive "weak" students of a strong curriculum, a practice that has historically proved regressive. 

AALE accreditation stipulates certain foundation subjects in which charter schools will offer-and generally require-instruction in every school year, from elementary and middle (K-8) through high school (9-12). These include:

AALE accreditation recognizes other subjects as important to-but not necessarily required in-the K-8 and 9-12 liberal arts curriculum. These include but are not limited to Economics, Philosophy, and Psychology. AALE similarly recognizes the centrality of arts education-in dance, theatre, music, and/or visual arts-and respects different ways schools may integrate instruction into the curriculum, whether in studio/practice, appreciation, or history courses. 

Since there is no one path to a good education, AALE respects curricular variety and considers exceptions and supplements to these subjects. But it strongly supports these Principles of Curriculum Design: 

• core areas of learning represented by the liberal arts
   
• rich content (manifested for example in readings with strong vocabulary and narrative) 
   
• a high degree of specificity in what students must learn
   
• grade-by-grade expectations, so that teachers and students can rely on intellectual progress 
   
• evident and sensible sequence, so that students build on previously acquired knowledge and continue to be challenged
   
• clear linkage to assessment, enabling teachers and administrators to identify ways to improve and accommodate the strongest and weakest students
   
• strong evidence of effectiveness
   
• a universally solid liberal-arts curriculum, democratically accorded to all students, with accommodation for ability allowed in the pacing, but not in the path, of learning

2. Exemplary Curricular Resources. Several organizations have developed well-regarded standards and/or extensive curricular materials. The following are recommended, although this list is not meant to be exhaustive. 

PART II: ASSESSMENT

Overview

A well-defined, intelligently sequenced, rigorous liberal arts curriculum cannot guarantee high-quality education on its own; it must be accompanied by equally well-defined, sequenced, and rigorous assessment. AALE accreditation rests on a strong complementary relationship between these two features, even as it respects the diversity of methods by which charter schools achieve success. What matters most is demonstrable student learning-and "learning" in this context is more closely aligned to concrete achievement or attainment of knowledge than to the abstract idea of ability or aptitude. 

Subjects, Frequency, Effectiveness

Subjects: It is expected that schools will assess student learning in all foundation subjects enumerated above [See Part I: Curriculum] as students progress from Kindergarten through the 12th grade. 

Physical Sciences: Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, and/or Physics
Mathematics: Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, Calculus
Foreign and/or Classical Languages 
Reading, Speech and Writing 
Literature in English and in Translation
World History and Geography 
American History and Government

Where appropriate assessment should occur in other areas, e.g., Economics, Philosophy, Psychology, Oratory, the Arts (Dance, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts). 

Frequency: Assessment in general must occur annually, although more frequent or less frequent schedules may be explained and justified in the application process. Continuity is an allied virtue to frequency: student learning is more easily measured by use of the same test(s) over successive years.

Effectiveness: AALE requires that charter schools explain in thoughtful detail how the results of assessment influence curriculum, teaching, and other central school practices. 

Assessment Mechanisms/Methods

AALE recognizes that a number of well-conceived and long-standing independent assessments are available and currently in use in charter schools. Charters are also typically required by law to test their students in state assessments, the quality of which varies, normally in accordance with the learning or curriculum frameworks/standards on which they are based. Weak state curriculum frameworks typically lead to weak assessment programs. Yet strong state curriculum frameworks do not guarantee strong assessment. "Alignment" of the two is notoriously problematic. 

In keeping with the flexible and responsive nature of AALE charter school accreditation, no single assessment or test is required for AALE accreditation. But cases where a weak state assessment is legally mandated, the use of a second independent assessment is expected. In order to guide effective teaching and curriculum, at least one highly reliable gauge of student learning must be employed. 

State Assessments that are well-regarded by independent analysts include those that accompany the superior state curricula listed in Part I: Curriculum. Other valuable state assessments may not actually be accompanied by strong state curriculum frameworks: for example, the New York State Regents Exams. (Charter schools are invited to comment upon their state assessments in relation to their own missions and the aims of liberal education.)

Independent Assessments administered by national organizations may prove equally or more valuable. These tests are typically norm-referenced rather than curriculum-referenced: the questions and answers are drawn from what most students in the nation can be expected to know, regardless of their locale, circumstances, curriculum, etc. Among those of particular merit are the following:

Advanced Placement Examinations 
American College Test
California Achievement Test
College Board (CLEP, PSAT, SAT, Achievement Tests)
Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills/Terra Nova
Educational Records Bureau
International Baccalaureate Examinations
Iowa Test of Basic Skills 
Metropolitan Achievement Test
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
National Writing Board
Stanford Achievement Test
Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science



Contests/Competitive Examinations deserve favorable mention as well. Where appropriate, charter schools should explain their role in monitoring student learning. 

American High School Mathematics Exam 
The Concord Review (History)
The DuPont Challenge (Science Essay)
Intel Science Talent Search
Medusa Mythology Examination
National French Exam
National Geography Bee
National German Exam
National Greek Exam
National Latin Exam
National Mythology Exam
National Russian Essay Contest/Olympiada of Spoken Russian
National Spanish Exam
Ralph Waldo Emerson Prizes (National History Club)
Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee
Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology
United States Academic Decathlon



PART III: TEACHER QUALITY

AALE-accredited charter schools hire and retain teachers based on clear measures of quality. 

First and foremost is the quality of the teacher's contribution to student learning in liberal arts subjects. This primary measure of quality relies on what experts call "outcomes." How well do the teacher's own students learn the subject in question-biology, Spanish, geography-as determined by verifiable assessments?

If "outcomes" are the decisive criterion for evaluating the work of teachers, certain "inputs"-such as the qualifications teachers bring to the classroom-clearly augur success. These include:

extensive knowledge of the subject(s) being taught, as evidenced by high scores on such measures as these: the Graduate Record Exam Subject Area Tests; a college or university transcript showing distinguished performance in numerous courses in the subject(s); a major in the subject, with a senior thesis; a master's or doctoral degree in the subject, with a thesis; and/or high professional achievement that depends on mastery of the subject(s), as in (for example) laboratory science.

• a broad liberal arts education or orientation, typically embodied in a liberal arts college degree with substantial coursework in various fields, with distinguished performance.
   
• enduring habits of study, reading, cultural activities, civic engagement, and the like.
   
• a profound and palpable desire to help young people learn and to develop the habits of mind and behavior of educated persons
   
• a personal history that is free of any record of criminal or other behavior that would compromise the trust that parents and communities confer upon teachers

PART IV: FINANCE/GOVERNANCE/ ADMINISTRATION

AALE financial administration standards determine whether a charter school is successfully employing adequate financial and organizational resources to carry out its educational mission and activities

To help assess the institution's compliance with these standards, the Academy uses a modified process it developed to identify the operational strengths and weaknesses of college and universities with respect to its postsecondary accreditation. 

The process, called KPI (Key Performance Indicators), relies on a ratio analysis of an institution's operations using measures developed by AALE and Moody's Investors Service.

AALE governance standards ensure that accredited charter schools are in full compliance with relevant state, local, and federal mandates, reporting requirements, and other regulations and legislation.