Weekend greetings, CharterFolk.
I hope your National Charter Schools Week is wrapping up well.
Today I’m delighted to share a new CharterFolk Chat with Starlee Coleman, CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
You can access the discussion in video format on YouTube.
An audio version and full transcript is also available on our website.
All past CharterFolk chats are found here.
The discussion runs over an hour, but I think you’ll find the time well spent. We covered many of the most pressing issues facing the charter school movement today, including:
- The current state of the movement and how we’re doing in this era of unprecedented change.
- How Starlee sees us navigating challenges across a wide range of political environments.
- Whether we’re achieving our full growth potential — and what more we could be doing to unlock it.
- The outlook for charter schools under the new administration, and how to make progress amid ongoing disruption.
- A sober assessment of the potential outcomes from the upcoming SCOTUS decision, and how we should prepare.
- Her views on how ready our advocacy organizations are to meet the needs of the moment.
- How our policy agendas may need to evolve as the movement’s system-wide impact continues to grow.
Along the way, Starlee shares what her first year in the role has been like — and gives us a backstage look at what it was like to attend the recent Supreme Court hearing in person.
I came away from our conversation with what I believe is the right balance: optimism about the future, a clearer grasp of the complex challenges ahead, and even greater confidence that we have the national leadership we need to navigate these extraordinary times.
I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.
Special thanks to Starlee for taking the time.
On we go.