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Caprice Young leads California's public charter school movement, the largest system of independent public schools in the nation. She is the founding President and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association, California's charter school advocacy and support association, which works to improve public education by increasing the number of students in high-quality public charter schools.

Her active commitment to quality has made her a trusted national voice forimproving public education, advising decision-makers, foundations andresearch institutions.

Caprice has a strong track record in education improvement, having served from 1999-2003 as a member and president of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board ofEducation, which governs the second largest school district in the United States. Herprofessional experience spans higher education, business and government, including:director of corporate and foundation relations for the Anderson School at UCLA;strategy consulting group manager of IBM's West Coast e-Business Innovations DesignCenter; and assistant deputy mayor for the City of Los Angeles. She also serves onnumerous boards, including the Governor's Advisory Committee on EducationExcellence and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, among others. Capriceearned a Bachelor's Degree from Yale University, a Master's in Public Administrationfrom the University of Southern California and received her Doctorate from theUniversity of California, Los Angeles.

In this interview, she responds to questions about the current situation in charter schools in America.

1) First of all, tell us a bit about yourself and what exactly you do?

My name is Caprice Young and I am the founding President and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association, California's charter school membership and professional organization. My role is to develop and maintain a high-quality organization that removes obstacles for California's charter schools so they can focus on providing an outstanding academic program to their students. The Association helps to advance the charter school movement by focusing on three areas of work: state and local advocacy, leadership on quality and supply of resources. Some of our organization's top accomplishments are detailed in the attached document.

At the end of the month, I will be transitioning to Knowledge Universe, a global education company, as the Vice President of Business Development and Alliances. I am looking forward to sharing the successful practices I have learned about in California's charter school movement at a global scale with Knowledge Universe.  

2) How did you get involved in charter schools in the first place?

As a former member and president of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education (serving from 1999-2003), the second largest public school district in the nation, I became keenly aware that our traditional public school system was not doing enough to meet the needs of the students it serves. During my tenure at LAUSD, I learned about successful charter schools and their outstanding results and I helped to get over 300 new charters opened.

In 2003, I was approached by the board of the California Charter Schools Association to launch the new association and build a top notch organization to support and lead California's growing charter school movement.

My bio is attached for additional information on my experience.

3) Is there anything different about charter schools in California?

California has the largest charter movement in the country, with nearly 750 charter schools, and has consistently grown by an average of 50 schools a year (this year there will be approximately 75 new charter schools). Charter schools across the country have many similarities: many are getting outstanding results and they are all unique and developed to meet the needs of the community. In California, there are many examples of charter schools meeting the unique needs of their community and students. Schools like the ones we profiled in the ZOOM! Data Source Featured School Stories. There is also mounting evidence that charter schools in California are getting outstanding results. Our research from the California Department of Education's 2004 - 2007 Academic Performance Index (API) results shows that charter schools do a better job increasing student achievement than traditional public schools. Over those three years 11% more charter schools had substantially higher student achievement (measured by a growth of 50 points or more on the API) than traditional public schools. We've also conducted very local analysis of charter schools in Los Angeles and compared them to their most similarly matched school. Our study discovered some outstanding results. For example, 70% of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) charter schools outperformed their most similarly matched traditional public school on 2007 API Growth scores. For more information on this report, please visit our press kit online.

What is unique, in my opinion, about charter schools in California is the degree to which they have embraced and helped to lead quality efforts such as our Certified Charter Schools Program and ZOOM! Data Source. Our schools are committed to continually evaluating and improving the quality of their programs.

The Certified Charter Schools Program publically recognizes California charter schools that have committed to comprehensive Quality Standards and successfully complete a rigorous school review. More information on the program can be found at www.myschool.org/certified.

ZOOM! Data Source is providing the tools and training for charter school educators to effectively analyze their student performance data and make data-driven decisions to improve student learning. It is so impressive to me that our schools and our teachers are so hungry, and not scared of, data to help them improve what they do. We had space for only 150 schools in the pilot this year and there was so much demand from our charter schools that the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation graciously approved funding for an additional 39 schools to participate in the program.

4) I understand that the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation has just given about 3 million dollars to the California Charter Schools Association. How did this come about?

The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) has been working closely with the Association for more than 2 years. During that time, they have supported us in developing a strategic plan for how charter schools and the Association use achievement data. The ZOOM! Data Source program emerged from this data strategic plan as the most pressing need to implement in order to:

(1.)  To facilitate improved student achievement through use of a data system and associated training program that will lead to data-driven decision making by teachers and administrators; and

(2.)   To strengthen the California charter school movement: leveraging compelling data generated from statewide deployment of the proposed data system to assess and improve the movement.

5) How will this money be used ? For technology, or computers or instruction?

This latest $3 million grant will be used for the development and deployment of the ZOOM! Data Source program to our member participating schools.  The program involves customized training and coaching on the use of the product – integrating the program as the main method of managing data at the school level. Specially, the money will be used to purchase licenses for the software, to cover the costs of training, to purchase scanners for formative assessment upload, and to cover the costs of personnel associated with supporting schools in this program.

6) What would you say are the most predominant needs of charter schools?

The most important need of charter schools is facilities. As public schools, charter schools educate public school students. Often, however, charter schools are left to find and finance their own school facilities without access to public funds that are typically used for school facilities. This is an issue of equity. We are currently engaged in a number of conversations around the state to right this for the public school students attending California's charter schools.

7) It seems to me that more and more parents are seeking other options and alternatives for their child's education (such as charter schools). In your mind, what are some of the reasons for this?

I think parents for a long time have felt that the traditional public school system was not addressing the needs of their child as well as it could. Among more traditionally disadvantaged communities, this is particularly true. A 2007 study by the Hoover Institute found that 48% Whites gave their public school an "A" or "B" grade while only 40% Hispanics and 27% African Americans gave their public school an "A" or "B" grade.

Options in public education over the years have become more available and parents are taking advantage of those options. What we hear in the charter school movement across the board is that parents feel that charter schools better meet the needs of their child and provide more individual attention and support. In a 2007 field study by the University of Southern California (USC) of over 2,000 charter school parents, the study found that over 70% of charter school parents gave their charter school an "A" grade.

With the rise of the charter school movement, other education reform movements and some progressive public school districts, parents now have more choices and options. They are empowered to make a decision about the best public school for their child as opposed to being told which school their child must attend. This is empowering for a parent and results in a family finding a school that is the "right fit" for their child.

8) Are charter schools the "wave of the future"?

I strongly believe in charter public schools as the only viable means to drive scalable public education improvements in the United States. There are structures and practices being developed and perfected in the charter school movement that traditional public education systems can leverage to improve education for all public school students. We are already seeing some very progressive public school districts incorporating "charter like" structures and practices.

Charter schools are not here to "take over" public education. Quite the opposite. We are all in this together – providing all children in this country with the opportunity to receive a high quality education. When we remember that this is about children, there is a lot that we can learn from each other. We hope the "wave of the future" in public education includes moving away from a "one size fits all" structure and incorporates some of the practices and structures that are making charter schools so successful, such as: school control of budget, curriculum and hiring; teachers empowered to make important education decisions; parents welcomed and encouraged to be involved in their child's education; accountability for improving student achievement.  

9) Have either of the Presidential candidates spoken out for or against charter schools to your knowledge?

Both candidates have made reference to charter schools in their education plan which is very exciting. McCain supports charter schools and school choice programs in the U.S. and mentioned charter schools in his address to the Republican National Convention. Recently, Obama featured charter schools in his education platform and announced his plan to increase spending to charter schools.

Two great articles on the candidates' support of charters are:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/09/10/ddn091008obama.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=16

 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121911268398452025.htmlmod=opinion_journal_political_diary

10) What question have I neglected to ask?

I would just like to stress how impressed I am that charter school educators have enthusiastically embraced this program. Our charter school educators are chomping at the bit to use data to improve their delivery of education to students. The three schools (Granada Hills Charter High School, New West Charter Middle School and Watts Learning Center Charter School) in our ZOOM! Data Source Featured School Stories all have very real and compelling examples of how the program has already helped them better serve their students.

Further Information about California's Charter Schools is below: www.myschool.org

The California Charter Schools Association (the Association) is the membership and professional organization serving charter schools in California. The Association advances the charter school movement through state and local advocacy, leadership on quality and extensive resources.

Milestones achieved under Caprice Young's leadership of the CA Charter Schools Association:

Growth

Shepherded the expansion of California's charter school movement by over 200 charter schools to the point where it consists of 687 charter schools serving close to a quarter million students.

Quality

Launched the nation's first Certified Charter Schools Program in May 2007, recognizing charter schools that have demonstrated a commitment and alignment with quality standards. Today, 70 percent of California charter schools participate in the program, which has certified 73 charter schools, or more than 10 percent of all California charter schools.

Secured $3.9 million from the U.S. Department of Education to develop high-quality new charter schools in under-served areas and restructure traditional public schools failing under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act to charter schools.

Supported the successful restructuring of three failing public schools under NCLB in San Diego resulting in dramatic improvements at Keiller Leadership Academy, Gompers Charter Middle School and King/Chavez Academies.

Representation

After years of re-regulation, the Association has fought and won against efforts to undermine the movement. California has now finished its fifth consecutive legislative session with no new punitive legislation.

Secured $150 million in funding for the 2007-2008 school year, an increase of $60 million ($250 increase per student), through the restructuring of a categorical block grant.

Led efforts to improve the environment to authorize charter schools in California resulting in two statewide benefit charters: High Tech High approved in 2006 and Aspire Public Schools approved in 2007.

Improved access to and funding for charter school facilities including pro-active enforcement of Proposition 39, $18 million SB 740 Charter School Facilities Grant Program and Proposition 1-D providing bonds of $500 million for charter schools. www.myschool.org

School Services

Created a $30.5 million Growth Loan Fund that has granted 98 loans to 62 high-demand charter schools, enabling 9,500 students to come off waiting lists.

Created a $10 million Charter School Facilities Fund which is being leveraged to create a $100 million facilities fund for charters.

Created an Insurance JPA serving the insurance needs of over 200 of California's charter schools .

National Leadership

The Association's CEO, Caprice Young, was recruited to serve as the Vice Chair of the National

Alliance for Public Charter Schools Board.

The Association's CEO, Caprice Young, and key staff were recruited to consult with several state charter school organizations, such as Arizona, New York, Illinois and others, on issues such as advocacy, leadership on quality initiatives and member charter school support.

The Association's CEO, Caprice Young, was recruited to serve on the University of Southern California's (USC) Center for Educational Governance charter school research advisory board and speak to education researchers at Stanford.

Published October 5, 2008