Good day, CharterFolk.
This week, I had the chance to share a CharterFolk Chat …
… with someone who’s been shaping the charter school movement from nearly every angle for the past 35 years:
Kevin Hall, CEO of the Charter School Growth Fund.
From his early days teaching fourth grade in Compton, to helping found one of the charter school movement’s earliest replicating organizations, to helping lead one of the most influential entities in education philanthropy, Kevin has seen, and helped drive, the transformation of our movement from scrappy startups to a major force in public education.
In this episode, we talk about:
- His “charter school origin story” and what’s kept him grounded in the work
- The evolution of CSGF and how 180 networks grew from 25,000 to 750,000 students served
- Where real growth is happening now, and why it’s showing up in some unexpected places
- A bold take on red state advocacy wins: Are they truly breakthroughs, or just catching up to blue-state policy advantages of the past?
- Why the strongest recipe for long-term advocacy success is when charter school operators and state associations team up and stay aligned (And, yes, I may have tested out a “Lakers without Kobe / Bulls without Jordan” metaphor to make the case for unity, and Kevin was kind enough not to call a flagrant foul.)
Most meaningfully, as CharterFolk approaches our five-year anniversary, Kevin shares his advice for what we can do as an organization to increase our impact in the years ahead, drawing on his decades of experience supporting visionary education leaders across the country.
If you’re looking for an insightful, passionate, and optimistic take on the future of charter schools – and what it’s going to take to keep making progress – you won’t want to miss this one
- Watch the full conversation on YouTube.
- Listen to the podcast on our website.
- Or tune in on your favorite platform – CharterFolk Chats is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Thanks for listening.
On we go.