Massachusetts Charter Schools

Proposed changes to the Charter School Site Visit Protocol - Feedback Requested

To:	Charter School Leaders and Board Chairs
From:	Claire Smithney, Coordinator of Accountability
Date:	August 19, 2016

The Site Visit Protocol (Protocol) is designed to be a resource for charter school leaders, external site visitors, the Department staff, and contracted vendors who may conduct site visits for the Department. It articulates the types of visits, site visit processes, roles and responsibilities of all parties, and expected outcomes. The Protocol is meant to provide useful information about site visits so stakeholders and visitors can know what to expect and how to prepare. The Protocol was most recently updated in February of 2016 to reflect new guidance from the Attorney General's Office and to provide several other clarifications. Following last year's implementation of the Protocol, the Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign has made additional adjustments to the Protocol based on best practices, suggestions, and challenges that arose during the 2015-16 school year. A track change version of the proposed Protocol (Revised August 2016) is attached that shows the key changes highlighted below.

Area Revised (page)	Description of change
Accountability Plans (page 3)	We have removed language stating that "A key component of charter school accountability is a school's accountability plan. Site visit teams also look for evidence of progress toward meeting the objectives and measures each school establishes in its accountability plan." The Department will monitor progress on accountability plans during the review of Annual Report submissions. A brief summary of the school's self-reported progress on the accountability plan will be included in each site visit report, but the site visit will not be a time to collect further evidence of accountability plan performance.
Types of Site Visits (pages 4, 20 and 21)	The section of the protocol has been revised to reflect that schools in their first year of operation will receive two visits, one in the fall and one in the spring. The spring visits will now follow the same protocol for check in visits. The Department also added circumstances that might lead to a school receiving a targeted visit.
End of visit report-out (pages 6 & 10)	The Protocol has been revised to further clarify the end of visit report-out as consisting of the presentation of two findings and no ratings. During the report-out, the team leader will provide findings on the following Criteria/Key Indicators: Criterion 1: Mission and Key Design Elements Key Indicator 6.2: Instruction The Protocol has also been updated to reflect that the visiting team may share concerns with the school leader prior to the report-out that may impact findings or ratings, or result in a Compliance finding.
Appendix A: Site Visit Checklist for School Leaders/Designees (pages 13 and 14)	The site visit checklist for school leaders/designees has received several updates. First: this year, the Department will begin to make introductory site visit webinars available to school leaders. These webinars will review the Protocol, site visit logistics, and aim to answer school leader questions. Second: all pre-visit and onsite document that were formally embedded within the site visit checklist for school leaders have now been moved to a separate appendix, Appendix D: Required documents which will be described further below. This change in formatting should increase usability.
Appendix B: Charter School Performance Criteria (pages 15 to 19)	The Protocol has been updated in this section to reflect the recent revisions to the Charter School Performance Criteria (Criteria) which was most recently revised in June of 2016. The majority of the areas of inquiry have also received minor revisions to align to the changes in the Criteria. In addition, the Protocol now includes areas of inquiry for schools working with EMOs.
Description of Common Practices Template (removed)	The description of common practices template has been removed from the Protocol. In its place, the Department will request that the school embed a list of common instructional practices, behavioral management techniques, and supports for diverse learners in the Department's classroom observation form as part of the pre-visit document request.
Appendix C: Types of Visits (pages 20 to 23)	Appendix C has been revised to better reflect the product that results from each type of visit and the Criteria that each type of visit will address.
Appendix D: Required Documents (pages 24 to 26)	As noted above, the required pre-visit and onsite documents are now in a separate appendix. Appendix D is organized into two sections. The first section, part A, addresses the pre-visit documents required for site visits by type (all visits, check in visits, and full site visits) and organized by due date. The second section, part B, lists the onsite documents required for site visits by type. The appendix also includes naming conventions for each document, and a brief description of the requirements for each document.
Template for staff roster (removed)	The word version of the Template for staff roster (teachers and administrators) has been removed and will be replaced by an Excel spreadsheet that will be sent to the school for completion prior to the visit.

We welcome any questions or comments on the draft Protocol. We would appreciate it if you could provide feedback by August 31, 2016. We anticipate posting a finalized version on our website by September 6, 2016. As some schools have site visits in the early fall, we will send a draft version of the Protocol to those schools in order to help them prepare as much of the process remains the same. If you have any questions or wish to provide feedback please contact me at csmithney@doe.mass.edu or 781-338-3213.

Thank you.

Attachment:

Site Visit Protocol Draft for Comment August 2016

Last Updated: August 19, 2016