Learning From the Best Cooperative Practices Between Charter and Traditional Public Schools

Collaboration is a force multiplier when it comes to innovation. Despite popular perception, traditional public schools and charter schools are collaborating on innovation and education reform. The upcoming 2012 national conference on Charter and Traditional Public Schools Collaborative Practices is the second national conference committed to exhibiting successful examples of these district-charter collaborations. The 2012 conference will be held November 5, 2012 in Broomfield, Colorado, just west of Denver near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
The goal of the upcoming conference, exhibiting examples of district-charter collaborations, is to provide sparks that will ignite additional public education partnerships. To further that end, examples of collected practices are now available online atwww.charterdistrictcoop.org, where folks can also register for the November conference. In welcoming participants to the 2010 national conference on district-charter collaborations, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said: “We need more examples of charter leaders working with the leaders in traditional schools. We need you to be working together to build great schools and to provide students with the world class education they so desperately need and deserve. We can’t let historical tensions or rivalries stop us or get in the way of where we need to go. No third grader in the country really cares or knows, frankly, whether they go to a charter school, traditional school, gifted school, or magnet school. All the child knows is whether they have a great teacher in the classroom, whether the principal knows who they are and whether they have a chance to fulfill their tremendous academic and social potential.” Thanks and appreciation goes to the following co-hosts of this important conference: the Arizona Charter School Association; The Cleveland Metropolitan School District; The Denver Public Schools; The Colorado League of Charter Schools; CSI Colorado; The Douglas County School District; The Falcon School District; The Georgia Charter School Association; The Illinois Network of Charter Schools; The National Alliance of Public Charter Schools; the New York Charter School Center; New York City Collaborates and the Ohio Alliance for public Charter Schools. Looking forward to seeing all of you there! Register here! -Bill Sims President and CEO Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools