Courtesy of The 74 Million
https://www.the74million.org/
The Charter School Growth Fund, established in 2005 by John Walton and Don Fisher, aimed to support early-stage charter schools by providing capital and resources. Initially backing 20 groups, including Idea Public Schools and Noble Street, the fund helped these networks grow, with Idea expanding from 1,000 to 25,000 students. The fund emphasized backing entrepreneurs like Tom Torkelson and Joanne Gama, who demonstrated passion and vision. The fund also highlighted the potential for high-performing charter networks to improve with scale, predicting that personalized learning paths will become more prevalent in the next decade.
Outline
Creation and Purpose of the Charter School Growth Fund
- Kevin Hall explains the role of philanthropies in the rise of great charter schools, highlighting the creation of the Charter School Growth Fund in 2005 by John Walton and Don Fisher.
- The fund aimed to support promising entrepreneurs and early-stage charter schools by providing capital and resources to help them grow and serve more students.
- The concept of a high-performing network of nonprofit charter schools was still emerging, and the fund was designed to test and back this idea.
- In the first fund, about 20 groups were backed, typically with less than 1000 students, including Idea Public Schools in Texas, Noble Street in Chicago, and Success Academy in New York City.
Early Successes and Investment Strategies
- The fund believed in the power of entrepreneurs, particularly at the early stage, and backed entrepreneurs like Tom Torkelson and Joanne Gama of IDEA Public Schools.
- IDEA Public Schools started with 1000 students and has grown to serve 25,000 students, demonstrating the fund’s ability to support growth and improve performance.
- Brooke Schools in Massachusetts, despite being highly performing, are constrained by a cap, limiting their ability to serve more students and open more schools.
- The fund has seen that larger charter networks tend to perform better, with examples like Success Academy and Uncommon Schools improving as they grow.
Challenges and Opportunities in Charter School Expansion
- The fund’s role includes finding small, high-performing schools and helping them scale up to serve more families in their communities.
- Summit Public Schools in California is an example of a school that experimented with a new model focused on personalized learning, despite initial messiness.
- The next decade for charter schools is expected to see a focus on personalized learning paths for every student, with high-performing charter schools evolving towards this model.
- The fund supports about 10 groups that serve more than 10,000 students each, with many on a path to serve 20,000 or 30,000 students, and the potential for charter networks to improve with scale.
