RiSE: Reimagining School Excellence
Mapping the future of charter school performance and accountability in Philadelphia
At the direction of the Board of Education and led by the Charter Schools Office, RiSE is a multi-year process to revise and reimagine the Charter School Performance Framework—our system for evaluating how our charter schools serve our students and their families.
Working in service to the more than 64,000 children educated in our charter schools and guided by our sector’s commitment to advancing student achievement, student experience, and student wellbeing, RiSE is our opportunity to raise the level of accountability and achievement in order to provide a public education that prepares our students to imagine and realize any future they desire.
RiSE Framework
The current framework has served us well, but education must continually evolve to meet the changing needs of constituents.
RiSE will build on the existing framework by:
- Putting high-quality education within reach of all students
- Improving transparency and communication with school leaders and their Board
- Providing more frequent, accurate, and reliable data to guide decision-making
- Equipping families to make informed choices about their child’s education
- Holding all charter schools to ambitious standards
- Continuing to align with state law and Board of Education goals
RiSE Decision Making Process
RiSE Commitments & Checkpoints
On behalf of the Board of Education, the Charter Schools Office oversees over 80 schools, serving over 60,000 students and families. This work must be done with intention and care, inclusive of all key stakeholders and communities, and in accordance with state law.
Having kicked off at the top of the 2024-2025 school year, RiSE is a multi-year process that will result in an updated performance framework that will be piloted at the start of the 2027-2028 school year.
Timeline
- Phase 1 (2024-2025) Establish Scope of Work
- Phase 2 (2025-2026) Design Updated Framework
- Phase 3 (2026-2027) Develop Updated Processes
- 2027-2028 Preliminary Implementation of Framework
Why Now?
Originally developed in 2012, the Charter School Performance Framework has measured school success by assessing academic achievement, organizational compliance, and financial sustainability. These three key components reflect the feedback of charter schools, education research, and national standards for charter authorizing. When taken together, they give the Charter Schools Office and the Board of Education a good snapshot of what is happening inside of our schools.
Over the last seven years of implementation, our charter schools’ leaders and their Boards have shared valuable feedback regarding the three framework components, including perceived limitations. We have listened to our schools’ leaders and their Boards who say that the system works, but that our current way of measuring school performance has areas for improvement.
Charter schools exist on the promise of providing strong academic options for all families. While the current Charter School Performance Framework remains in place, Project RiSE will reconfigure our system of charter school accountability and reimagine how we measure success over the next few years.
The current framework has served our children well for the better part of a decade. We now have the opportunity—with the help of our charter school leaders, charter school Board members, and city stakeholders—to create an updated framework that will inform the next decade and beyond.
Working Group & Subcommittees
Select a group or subcommittee to learn more & view members.
Subcommittees
➜ Academic Success
➜ Organizational Compliance & Viability
➜ Financial Health & Sustainability
RiSE Working Group
Working group members represent a broad cross-section of the Philadelphia public education ecosystem (including school and network leaders, staff, advocates, and partner organization representatives) and meet monthly to discuss big-picture topics as they relate to proposing a reconfigured Performance Framework. This includes, for example, informing stakeholder outreach strategy, reviewing high-level feedback from the field, and providing diverse perspectives on the direction of possible revisions prior to their further analysis by the subcommittees.
Members:
- Leigh Botwinik, Freire Schools
- Essence Caleb, Green Woods CS
- Dr. Margery Covello, Lindley Academy CS at Birney
- Dr. William Hayes, Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia CS
- Arlene Holtz, Mariana Bracetti Academy CS
- Dr. Ayesha Imani, Sankofa Freedom Academy CS
- Dr. Naomi Johnson Booker, Global Leadership Academy CS
- Dr. Lawrence Jones, Richard Allen Preparatory CS
- Dr. Evelyn Nuñez, Esperanza Academy CS
- Michael Patron, Mastery Schools
- Jessica Ramos, Russell Byers CS
- Darcy Russotto, Pan American Academy CS
- Gloria Shabazz, Impact CS West
- Dr. Debora Carrera, Mayor’s Office of Education
- Dawn Chavous, African American Charter Schools Coalition
- Donna Cooper, Children First
- Lisa Haver, Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools
- Donna Ragsdale, School District of Philadelphia
- Tanya Ruley-Mayo, Elevate 215
- Tomea Sippio-Smith, University of Pennsylvania GSE
- Dr. Cassandra St. Vil, Philadelphia Charters for Excellence (PCE)
- Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, At-Large City Councilmember, Majority Whip, Chair, Education Committee
- Sharon Ward, Mayor’s Office of Education
Academic Success Subcommittee
Academic Success Subcommittee members bring specialized expertise in the academic domain, and participate in monthly virtual meetings to focus on the detailed review and technical development of their respective framework area. This includes, for example, considering and testing measures and metrics used by other authorizers to weigh their applicability to the SDP context and inform ultimate revisions.
Members:
- Dr. Andrea Coleman-Hill, Laboratory CS of Communication and Languages
- Debi Durso, Green Woods CS
- Dr. William Hayes, Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia CS
- Tammy Khieu, Freire Schools
- Peter Lee, Mastery Schools
- Jessica Ramos, Russell Byers CS
- Christopher Zagacki, New Foundations CS
Organizational Compliance & Viability Subcommittee
Organizational Compliance & Viability Subcommittee members bring specialized expertise in the organizational domain and participate in monthly virtual meetings to focus on the detailed review and technical development of their respective framework area. This includes, for example, considering and testing measures and metrics used by other authorizers to weigh their applicability to the SDP context and inform ultimate revisions.
Members:
- Dr. Tamika Evans, Global Leadership Southwest CS
- Dr. Claudia Lyles, Keystone Academy CS
- Michael Patron, Mastery Schools
- Dr. Alberta O’Brien, Community Academy of Philadelphia CS
- Lucilla Perry-Edwards, Deep Roots CS
- Dr. Debbera Peoples-Lee, West Oak Lane CS
- Leigh A. Purnell, Southwest Leadership Academy CS
Financial Health & Sustainability Subcommittee
Financial Health & Sustainability Subcommittee members bring specialized expertise in the financial domain, and participate in monthly virtual meetings to focus on the detailed review and technical development of their respective framework area. This includes, for example, considering and testing measures and metrics used by other authorizers to weigh their applicability to the SDP context and inform ultimate revisions.
Members:
- Daniel Bell, Mastery Schools
- Beth Dyson, Belmont Charter Network
- Gloria Shabazz, Impact CS West
- Colleen Smith, Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia CS
- John F. Swoyer, III, MaST Charter Schools
- Judith Taggart, The Philadelphia CS for Arts & Sciences at H.R. Edmunds
- Taylor Uyehara, YouthBuild Philadelphia CS
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