Rules & Regulations of the State of Tennessee
Title 0520 - Education
Subtitle 0520-14 - Charter Schools
Chapter 0520-14-01 - Charter Schools
Section 0520-14-01-.08 - AUTHORIZER EVALUATION
Universal Citation: TN Comp Rules and Regs 0520-14-01-.08
Current through September 24, 2024
(1) Evaluation Process.
(a) Pursuant to T.C.A. §
49-13-145, the State Board shall
conduct periodic authorizer evaluations of all authorizers that oversee at
least one (1) charter school. New authorizers that have authorized a charter
school that has not yet opened shall be considered authorizers for purposes of
participating in the evaluation and shall receive their first evaluation when
at least one (1) of the authorizer's charter schools begins its second year of
operation.
(b) Authorizers shall be
evaluated by the State Board at least every other year. However, an authorizer
that achieves an Exemplary rating for two (2) consecutive evaluations may be
exempted from undergoing an evaluation during the authorizer's next evaluation
year. Authorizers that achieve an Unsatisfactory/Incomplete rating during an
evaluation shall be required to participate in another authorizer evaluation in
the year immediately following the rating of
Unsatisfactory/Incomplete.
(c)
State Board staff shall assemble an authorizer evaluation team (the "Evaluation
Team") comprised of evaluators with experience in charter school authorization
and/or authorizer evaluation.
(d)
The State Board shall develop and approve an authorizer evaluation rubric (the
"Rubric") to evaluate authorizer compliance with the requirements of state law,
the rules and regulations of the State Board, and to ensure alignment with the
State Board Quality Charter School Authorizing Standards Policy 6.111. The
Rubric shall be an attachment to State Board Policy 6.113 Charter School
Authorizer Evaluations. The Rubric shall, at a minimum, require the Evaluation
Team to:
1. Assign authorizers a score on a
scale of zero (0) to four (4), or not applicable, indicating the degree to
which an authorizer has met each standard on the Rubric; and
2. Assign authorizers an overall rating in
compliance with thresholds defined in State Board Policy 6.113 Charter School
Authorizer Evaluations.
(e) The evaluation year is the school year
during which an authorizer undergoes an authorizer evaluation by the State
Board (the "Evaluation Year"). The Evaluation Year shall, at a minimum, consist
of the following:
1. Submission of
documentation by the authorizer to the State Board;
2. Evaluation Team review of submitted
documentation;
3. Evaluation Team
review of authorizer appeal history, if applicable;
4. Evaluation Team interview with school
leaders from the authorizer's charter schools;
5. Evaluation Team meeting with the
authorizer to receive additional context about the submitted
documentation;
6. An Evaluation
Team member meeting with the authorizer to review preliminary evaluation
ratings;
7. Draft authorizer
evaluation report shared with the authorizer. The authorizer shall have an
opportunity to provide any factual corrections to the report prior to the
report being finalized;
8. Final
authorizer evaluation report (the "Evaluation Report"), including scores for
each standard of the Rubric, an overall evaluation rating, and any required
follow-up actions shared with the authorizer. The Evaluation Report shall be
presented to the State Board for approval at the next quarterly or special
called meeting following release of the Evaluation Report to the
authorizer;
9. Upon approval of the
Evaluation Report, State Board staff shall send written notification of
approval to the authorizer. If an authorizer receives a rating of Approaching
Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory/Incomplete, the authorizer shall acknowledge
receipt of the Evaluation Report to the State Board no later than ten (10)
business days after the written notification is sent to the authorizer and
shall comply with any required follow-up actions including, but not limited to,
development of a corrective action plan; and
10. Posting the Evaluation Report on the
State Board's website.
(f) The non-evaluation year is the school
year during which an authorizer does not undergo an authorizer evaluation by
the State Board (the "Non-Evaluation Year"). The Non-Evaluation Year shall, at
a minimum, consist of the following:
1.
Authorizer completion of a self-assessment that shall be submitted to the State
Board in addition to the annual authorizer report required by T.C.A. §
49-13-128. The self-assessment
shall include, if applicable, information and evidence demonstrating completion
of a corrective action plan required by the State Board as a result of the
authorizer's most recent Evaluation Report; and
2. If the authorizer's corrective action plan
requires interim reports, the authorizer shall provide information and evidence
demonstrating completion of any corrective action plan tasks by the deadline
required by the corrective action plan.
(g) Authorizer progress toward completion of
a corrective action plan shall be reported by State Board staff to the State
Board at least annually.
(2) Authorizer Ratings and Follow-up Actions.
(a) The Evaluation Report shall assign an
overall rating to each authorizer as further defined in State Board Policy
6.113 Charter School Authorizer Evaluations. Rating categories and
corresponding follow-up actions are as follows:
1. Exemplary.
(i) An Exemplary rating includes, but is not
limited to, the following:
(I) Public
recognition and highlighting authorizer best practices by the State
Board;
(II) Exemption from an
upcoming evaluation if the authorizer has achieved an Exemplary rating for two
(2) consecutive Evaluation Years; and
(III) Submission of a self-assessment during
the Non-Evaluation Year.
(ii) An authorizer shall not be rated as
Exemplary if the authorizer receives a zero (0) or one (1) rating for any
Rubric standard.
2.
Commendable.
(i) A Commendable rating
includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(I) Public recognition and highlighting
authorizer best practices by the State Board; and,
(II) Submission of a self-assessment during
the Non-Evaluation Year.
3. Satisfactory.
(i) A Satisfactory rating includes, but is
not limited to, the following:
(I) Submission
of a self-assessment during the Non-Evaluation
Year.
4.
Approaching Satisfactory.
(i) An Approaching
Satisfactory rating includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(I) Submission of a corrective action plan,
which shall include any specific follow-up actions identified in the Evaluation
Report. The corrective action plan shall be approved by the Executive Director
of the State Board or his/her designee prior to implementation;
(II) Submission of a self-assessment during
the Non-Evaluation Year; and
(III)
Submission of documentation demonstrating completion of requirements by the
deadlines set forth in the approved corrective action plan. Failure to complete
the requirements outlined in the corrective action plan and/or receiving a
rating of Approaching Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory/Incomplete in the next
authorizer evaluation may result in the reduction of the authorizer's
authorizer fee in an amount and length of time determined by the State Board in
compliance with paragraph three (3) of this rule.
5. Unsatisfactory/Incomplete.
(i) An Unsatisfactory/Incomplete rating
includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(I) Requirement to participate in another
authorizer evaluation the school year immediately following a rating of
Unsatisfactory/Incomplete;
(II)
Submission of a corrective action plan, which shall include any specific
follow-up actions identified in the Evaluation Report. The corrective action
plan shall be approved by the Executive Director of the State Board or his/her
designee prior to implementation; and
(III) Submission of documentation
demonstrating completion of requirements by the deadlines set forth in the
approved corrective action plan. Failure to complete the requirements outlined
in the corrective action plan and/or receiving a rating of
Unsatisfactory/Incomplete in the authorizer's next evaluation may result in the
reduction of the authorizer's authorizer fee in an amount and length of time
determined by the State Board in compliance with paragraph three (3) of this
rule.
(3) Authorizer Fee Reduction.
(a) The State Board may reduce the authorizer
fee of an authorizer that receives:
1. An
Approaching Satisfactory rating during the Evaluation Year and fails to
complete the requirements outlined in the authorizer's corrective action
plan;
2. An
Unsatisfactory/Incomplete rating during the Evaluation Year and fails to
complete the requirements outlined in the authorizer's corrective action plan;
or
3. An Unsatisfactory/Incomplete
or Approaching Satisfactory rating during two (2) consecutive Evaluation
Years.
(b) The State
Board shall not reduce an authorizer's authorizer fee by more than fifty
percent (50%) in any school year.
(c) If the Executive Director determines that
an authorizer fee reduction should be recommended to the State Board, the
Executive Director of the State Board shall make a recommendation to the State
Board regarding the reduction of an authorizer's authorizer fee and the length
of time; however, the State Board is not bound by that recommendation. Absent
an Executive Director's recommendation, the State Board may still consider
reduction of an authorizer's authorizer fee if the authorizer meets any of the
requirements of paragraph (3)(a) of this rule. The amount of any reduction of
an authorizer's authorizer fee and the length of time of any reduction shall be
determined and approved by the State Board on a case-by-case basis. In making
its determination, the State Board shall consider, but is not limited to, the
following:
1. An authorizer's failure to
remedy any noncompliance identified in the authorizer's Evaluation Reports and
corresponding corrective action plans, if applicable; and
2. Ratings received by the authorizer in
prior Evaluation Reports, if applicable.
(d) If the State Board approves the reduction
of an authorizer's authorizer fee by a certain percentage, the Department of
Education shall determine the exact amount of the reduction based on the total
authorizer fee received by the authorizer in the Evaluation Year or the first
year that the authorizer receives an authorizer fee, if no fee has been
collected by the authorizer during the Evaluation Year.
(e) Any reduction shall be equally prorated
among all of the authorizer's open and operating charter
schools.
Authority: T.C.A. §§ 49-13-120, 49-13-126, and 49-13-145.
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