Charter Network Accelerator

Running a great network cannot rest on one person's shoulders. When a senior leadership team grows skills and learns together, the team builds alignment, clarity, and focus. Teams Win on Priorities—creating immediate and sustainable student outcomes.

About The Charter Network Accelerator Program

The Charter Network Accelerator 2.0 helps leaders leverage their entire senior leadership team to prioritize what’s most critical for network success, helping the team work together to drive academic results.

At the heart of the program, the Accelerator helps network teams shift from “working on” their strategic plans to Winning on Priorities. Through focused content, coaching, and cohort convenings, the program helps networks engage, plan, and execute on their most important academic work. 

The Accelerator offers network teams the time, tools, and collaborative learning space to focus like never before in service of building a stronger network and stronger schools. The program is more than a learning experience; it's an incubator where senior leadership teams work alongside peers from across the country to design and lead meaningful change in their networks. 

The Accelerator is an investment you make in your senior leadership team and in your students.

Core Program Components

Cohort-Based
Professional Learning

Instruction in concepts and competencies key to building clarity, focus, and alignment as teams lead transformation in their networks

Team Coaching

Each leadership team engages in twenty hours of coaching and focused team shadowing to support strong team functioning and application of content

Professional Network

Teams benefit from guest speakers and site visits featuring Charter Network Accelerator alumni and other networks

PROGRAM OUTCOMES

Our goal is to ensure senior charter leaders strengthen the skills, mindsets and systems to lead strategic change effectively. We partner with leaders to:

Improve Student Achievement

Increase Organizational and Leadership Capacity

Strengthen
Team Health

Who Benefits From This Program

Senior teams of small to midsize charter networks, typically with 2-10 schools. The network may be growing (sites or seats) and senior team members are eager to increase their effectiveness of their leadership and student outcomes. Team participants may include:

  • Chief Executive Officer / Executive Director*

  • Chief Academic Officer / Chief Program Officer*

  • Other senior team members (Chief of Schools, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Operations Officer)**

  • Other key team members involved in planning and implementation of programmatic priorities (e.g. director of curriculum and assessment, instructional coaching lead, content lead)**

*Required participants

**Each network will have some variation in their core team, depending on context

The CNA Program Strengthened Team Health & Effectiveness for a Network of Five K-8 Schools

About the Senior Leadership Team

In order to strengthen their network of several K-8 schools located in the South, the team identified three strategic priorities:  

  1. Shift the top-down nature of leadership to build a more inclusive and collaborative space for all leaders to  work together 

  2. Increase clarity of the relationship between the network and the schools

  3. Get stronger at measuring outcomes over inputs

How the CNA Program Helped Them Focus

The leadership team worked together with their coach, cohort and team to be able to: 

  • Communicate and connect people to a common vision for student success

  • Engage more stakeholder voice and co-creation across the organization

  • Develop a network process to consistently measure and monitor outcomes across all the schools

What Happened as a Result 

  • Created a school report card that provided clear, unambiguous goals for all schools. The report card was co-created by network and school leaders so that the entire organization knew where they were going and what they would be held accountable for

  • Developed Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) for the entire network 

  • Implemented a dashboard, a calendar of data cycles, and space for leaders to come together to reflect and progress monitor

Our Impact

Since 2015, we have worked with six cohorts – over 50 charter networks representing 19 states plus D.C. have benefitted from the Accelerator experience.

Learning That Changes Leaders & Teams

  • "Cohort learning is always valuable but cohort learning with others leading schools is ESSENTIAL. My work with the Charter Network Accelerator Program over the past few years has brought me inspiration, new perspectives, and countless great ideas that have benefited our students. There is a strong sense of community and the moral support from other leaders. I am forever grateful to this incredible group of educators!"

    Melissa McGonegle, CAO of Carmen School of Science and Technology

  • "The practices and workshops led by the team have prompted growth and strength for our network that was necessary for longevity. The connections with other leaders who are in the midst of similar growth and change were priceless!"

    Charter Network Accelerator Past Participant

Apply To The Charter Network Accelerator Program

More questions? We would love to chat!