Public Charter Schools authorized by the Office of Educational Opportunity (OEO) are accountable to the students, families, and communities they serve, the State of Wisconsin, the OEO and the Department of Public Instruction.
Oversight
The fundamental responsibility of the Office of Educational Opportunity (OEO) is to ensure quality charter school oversight that maintains high standards of school performance, upholds school autonomy, and safeguards student and public interests.
The OEO holds schools accountable for charter contract goals regarding student outcomes and performance. This includes standardized assessments and school data, independent financial audits, in addition to regular school-level reporting on progress including strategic plans and progress reports, budgets, policies, staff/parent feedback, student enrollment, and demographic information. The OEO also collects qualitative data during the year through formal and informal school visits, classroom and board meeting observations, and communication with staff, parents, and (where appropriate) students.
The OEO is in regular communication with school leaders and board members to address concerns and provide updates. The OEO also uses formal notice and may direct corrective actions when schools are not meeting requirements—including revocation of authorization. Reference the OEO Oversight Handbook for oversight and evaluation guidelines.
Ultimately, OEO evaluates a school’s progress during the term of the charter contract that leads to a summative evaluation used for renewal.
Evaluation Measures – Performance Framework
The Office of Educational Opportunity (OEO) has the responsibility of ensuring that all OEO-authorized charter schools provide high quality education for the students they serve. The OEO uses its Performance Framework and its indicators as the accountability mechanism that sets academic, fiscal, and organizational standards.
The Performance Framework is used to:
- Provide clear guidance about how the charter school and the OEO define charter school success;
- Provide the charter school leaders and board with data sources used to evaluate the school in each component (academic, fiscal, and organizational);
- Guide the completion of the Performance Framework yearly report;
- Provide differentiated oversight based on each school’s performance of interventions;
- Provide comprehensive information for data-driven charter renewal decisions;
- Ensure that all charter schools authorized by the OEO provide their students with a high-quality public education;
- Preserve operational and programmatic autonomy of the charter school.
The Performance Framework is dynamic and subject to continuous review and improvement based on changes in federal and state laws, state accountability, and improved authorizer policies and practices. Pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 118.40(3m)(e), the Performance Framework is used to assess school performance on an annual basis. As a result, OEO schools are currently under three Performance Frameworks. The OEO looks forward to consolidating all schools into one Performance Framework in the near future.
Charter school leaders and their respective boards are encouraged to refer to the Performance Framework on a continuing basis to inform planning and as a means of self-assessing the overall health and viability of their school throughout the charter term. The OEO collects and provides information on performance against the indicators through analysis of data submitted by the school and publicly available data.
Wisconsin Charter School Authorizer Annual Report
Wisconsin statute requires charter school authorizers to submit to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and to the legislature an annual report containing information on charter schools currently under contract, contract renewals, nonrenewal, revocations, new contracts, performance of charter schools, authorizer operating costs, and services provided to charter schools.