What is National Charter Schools Week? What Can My School Do to Celebrate It?

Charter schools across the country will celebrate National Charter Schools Week (NCSW) on May 3-May 7^th by hosting and participating in events to showcase their achievements and to share their accomplishments with other schools, parents, community members, government leaders, and the media. 

The kick-off event for NCSW, specifically designed for schools and students, is scheduled for Monday, May 3 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST at the SAIL school in Washington, D.C. The event will be webcast live at http://www.nnkol.org/live, so that charter schools across the nation can watch and participate via the Internet! What a great way to begin a week of celebration for charter schools.

The event will include:

NCSW provides an opportunity to publicize your school’s innovative, successful programs and the needs of your school for continued success.The Charter School Leadership Council (CSLC) is helping organize National Charter Schools Week and has developed the NCSW Toolkit to help you plan for this event. Below are several suggested activities for this week. Many other ideas for compelling, creative events are available on the Charter School Leadership Council website.

• Plan a demonstration of unique programs offered by your school for visitors. Use flyers, public service announcements, press releases, etc. to invite the public to attend.



• Host a multicultural dinner showcasing student projects and school talent. Invite city council members, business and community leaders, legislators and the media to attend.



• Provide media passes to school events during NCSW. Have student leaders call and personally invite prominent education reporters from local newspapers, television and radio stations to the event.



• Have students write personal success stories showcasing their achievements while enrolled at the school. Compile the highlights and prepare a press release.



• Arrange a field trip to the state capitol, scheduling time for legislators to talk to students. Research state legislation with implications for charter schools. Prepare a charter school fact sheet for your state legislators including statistics indicating student performance, parent, student and teacher satisfaction, and graduation rates.

Please remember that while it may be too late to implement some of these programs this year; it’s not too soon to start planning for the 6^th National Charter Schools Week!