Charter management organizations (CMOs) are in the news. And we are going to hear a lot more about the impact of CMOs on student performance after tomorrow’s release of Mathematica/CRPE’s report that represents the most comprehensive look at CMO effectiveness to date.
But before the release of tomorrow’s report, let’s revisit the first report, which detailed the practices of CMOs, drawn from observations, interviews, surveys, and reviews of financial documents. The first report is packed with information about the national CMO landscape, CMO characteristics, how CMOs operate, and plans for growth. The report notes that, despite the relative newness of the CMO landscape, they are already a significant presence in the charter school movement. The report provides insight into the commonalities across CMOs—such as being highly concentrated in certain urban areas and having a mission to serve disadvantaged youth and reform large school systems, as well as hurdles many CMOs face—such as extending program design into new grade configurations, increasing the pool of talented teachers and school leaders, reducing staff burnout, and watching out for bureaucratic creep. The first report is definitely worth a read as it gives context for the upcoming performance evaluation. Like the charter sector as a whole, there is a good deal of variation in terms of how CMOs operate. It will be interesting to see how the variation in practices translates into student performance. And while you’re waiting for tomorrow’s release, you can also get lots of facts about CMOs and EMOs here.
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