Accountability Requirements and Measures

Each Charter School authorized by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is held accountable to stakeholders in many ways. Such accountability requirements include:

Compliance – Complying with all requirements of the model contract.
Strategic Plan – Each organization, in cooperation with faculty and staff, will create and maintain a strategic plan that clearly states the mission, vision, and strategic goals of the school.
Annual School Growth Plan – Annually each school will determine at least three improvement goals emanating from its strategic plan and based on analysis of appropriate data. A reading and math goal must be included.
Annual School Growth Report – Annually each school will report on the results of improvement efforts as outlined in its Annual School Growth Plan. Links to the most recent Annual School Growth Reports can be found here:

Annual Performance Framework Report – Annually each school receives its academic, financial, and organizational performance framework report and has the opportunity to respond with rationale for meeting or not meeting the standards.
Wisconsin Student Assessment System (WSAS) – Schools must administer assessments as required by the WSAS. Results can be found on DPI’s Wisconsin Information System for Education Data Dashboard (WISEdash).
- Forward Exam given to students in grades 3-8 in English Language Arts and Mathematics, students in 4th and 8th grades in Science, and students in 4th, 8th, and 10th grades in Social Studies.
- PreACT Secure given to students in grades 9 and 10 in English, Reading, Mathematics and Science.
- ACT with Writing given to students in 11th grade in Reading, English, Mathematics, Science, and Writing.
Northwest Evaluation Association’s (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) – Assessments must be administered to students in grades 1 through 10 in Reading and Math in both the Fall and Spring. Results can be found in the Office’s Annual Report.
OCS Satisfaction Survey – Satisfaction surveys administered annually to parents, licensed/certified faculty/staff, and students in grades 4 and up. Links to the most recent satisfaction survey results can be found here:

Evaluation Measures – Performance Framework

The Office of Charter Schools developed a comprehensive Performance Framework as the primary means of monitoring and evaluating the Academic, Financial, and Organizational health of each charter school in its portfolio, to ensure that all charter schools authorized by the University are providing their students with a high-quality public education. The Performance Framework sets the rigorous standards that each charter school strives to meet and is the basis for informing renewal and closure decisions.

In addition to establishing performance criteria for charter schools, the Performance Framework also ensures that the University is accountable to charter schools by implementing a rigorous and fair oversight process carried out by the Office of Charter Schools that respects the autonomy that is vital to a charter school.

The Academic, Financial, and Organizational Performance Framework indicators are as follows:

State and Federal Accountability

A.1. School Report Card – Receive an Overall Accountability Rating of three, four, or five stars out of five on DPI’s School Report Card or Satisfactory using the Alternate Rating.

Student Achievement (Status)

A.2. State ELA Assessment – Achieve a percentage of pupils in all grades tested by the state assessment in the charter school scoring proficient or advanced in ELA that is the same as or higher than the average of the percentage of pupils scoring proficient and advanced in corresponding grades in all schools in the local district and the State.

A.3. State Mathematics Assessment – Achieve a percentage of pupils in all grades tested by the state assessment in the charter school scoring proficient or advanced in Mathematics that is the same as or higher than the average of the percentage of pupils scoring proficient and advanced in corresponding grades in all schools in the local district and the State.

A.4. State ELA Assessment (Local/Comparable) – Achieve a percentage of pupils in all grades tested by the state assessment in the charter school scoring proficient or advanced in ELA that is the same as or higher than neighborhood and demographically comparable schools.

A.5. State Mathematics Assessment (Local/Comparable) – Achieve a percentage of pupils in all grades tested by the state assessment in the charter school scoring proficient or advanced in Mathematics that is the same as or higher than neighborhood and demographically comparable schools.

Student Progress Over Time (Growth)

A.6. MAP RIT Growth Targets Reading – At least 50% of students meet or exceed Fall to Spring growth targets in Reading.

A.7. MAP RIT Growth Targets Mathematics – At least 50% of students meet or exceed Fall to Spring growth targets in Mathematics.

A.8. MAP Reading RIT Growth for Significant Subgroups (i.e. racial/ethnic minorities, SPED, ELL) – Significant subgroups within the charter school achieve average Fall to Spring growth in their Reading RIT scores that is at least 110% of the average target RIT growth.

A.9. MAP Mathematics RIT Growth for Significant Subgroups (i.e. racial/ethnic minorities, SPED, ELL) – Significant subgroups within the charter school achieve average Fall to Spring growth in their Mathematics RIT scores that is at least 110% of the average target RIT growth.

Post-Secondary Readiness

A.10. Attendance – Achieve an attendance rate of pupils in the charter school that is the same as or higher than the attendance rate of pupils in corresponding grades in all schools in the local district and the State.

A.11. Graduation – Achieve a graduation rate of pupils in the charter school that is the same as or higher than the average graduation rate of pupils in all schools in the local district and the State.

Near-Term

F.1. Current Ratio – Current ratio (assets to liabilities) is greater than or equal to 1.1 or current ratio is between 1.0 and 1.1 and current year ratio is higher than last year’s.

F.2. Enrollment Variance – Enrollment variance equals or exceeds 95% in the most recent year.

F.3. Default – School is not in default of loan covenant(s) and/or is not delinquent with debt service payments.

Sustainability

F.4. Debt to Asset Ratio – Debt to Asset Ratio is less than 0.9.

Education Program

O.1. The school is implementing the academic program and design described in the charter contract or the school has gained appropriate approval for a charter modification to the material terms.

O.2. The school is complying with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and provisions of the charter contract related to the education requirements, including but not limited to:

Instructional days or minutes required,
Graduation and promotion requirements, and
State assessments.

O.3. Policies and practices related to admissions, lottery, waiting list and enrollment are fair and equitable as required by law. The school does not discriminate in its admissions policies or practices.

O.4. Consistent with the school’s status as a Local Education Agency (LEA), the school materially complies with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and provisions of the charter contract (including IDEA, Section 504, and ADA) relating to treatment of students with identified disabilities and those suspected of having a disability, including but not limited to:

Equitable access and opportunity to enroll,
Identification and referral,
Appropriate development and implementation of IEP and Section 504 plan,
Discipline, including due process protections, manifestation determinations, and behavioral intervention plans, and
Operational compliance, including provision of services in the least restrictive environment and appropriate inclusion in the school’ academic program, assessments, and extracurricular activities.

O.5. The school materially complies with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and provisions of the charter contract relating to English Language Learner requirements, including but not limited to:

Required policies related to the service of ELL students,
Proper steps for identification of students in need of ELL services,
Appropriate and equitable delivery of services to identified students,
Appropriate accommodations on assessments, and
Exiting of students from ELL services.

Financial Management and Oversight

O.6. The school materially complies with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and provisions of the charter contract relating to financial reporting requirements, including but not limited to:

Complete and on-time submission of the annual proposed budget and independent financial audit with corrective action, if applicable, and
All reporting requirements related to the use of public funds including reports submitted to the DPI (i.e. special education, Title I and school nutrition budgets).

O.7. The school materially complies with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and provisions of the charter contract relating to financial management and oversight expectations as evidenced by an annual independent audit, including but not limited to:

An unqualified audit opinion, and
An audit devoid of significant findings and conditions, material weaknesses, or significant internal control weaknesses.

Governance and Reporting

O.8. The school materially complies with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and provisions of the charter contract relating to governance by its board, including but not limited to:

Board bylaws submitted,
Open meetings outlined in contract are followed, and
Board composition and or membership rules followed.

O.9. The school materially complies with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and provisions of the charter contract relating to oversight of school management (only applicable for schools with a Charter Management Organization (CMO) or Education Service Provider (ESP)).

Facilities and Safe School Environment

O.10. The school provides adequate and appropriately maintained facilities to support teaching and learning included but not limited to:

Evidence of fire inspections and related records, and
Viable certificate of occupancy or other required building use authorization.

O.11. The school materially complies with applicable laws, rules, regulations and provisions of the charter contract relating to the safety and provision of health-related services, including but not limited to:

Food service requirements,
Appropriate nursing services and dispensing of pharmaceuticals, as applicable,
Background checks of all applicable individuals are complete and on file, and
Other LEA services, as applicable.

O.12. The school has a safe environment as indicated by an average score of three or higher on the graded school safety items on the parent, student, and staff satisfaction surveys.

Additionally, at least 80% of staff, 80% of students, and 50% of parents must have completed the survey so that the average is a valid indicator of stakeholder perception of safety.

Additional Obligations

O.13. The school materially complies with applicable laws, rules, regulations, and provisions of the charter contract relating to relevant reporting requirements to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and/or federal authorities.

O.14. The school is meeting other relevant compliance requirements included in the charter contract.