Adams 12 introduces STAR review to replace stoplight rubric for charter monitoring
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Summary
District staff presented a reimagined charter monitoring framework called STAR (schoolwide trends and accountability review) to inform monitoring report 2.9 and renewal decisions; concern ratings will trigger action plans and recurring issues will be made public in an annual report.
District staff presented a redesigned charter-monitoring framework Dec. 1 aimed at replacing the existing stoplight rubric with a data-driven review called STAR (Schoolwide Trends and Accountability Review).
Audrey Monaco, director of charter partnerships, said STAR will use a yearly set of indicators grounded in contract requirements, state and federal statute and district policy to assess academic performance, operational compliance and financial health. "We really wanted our annual review to be transparent and based in data," Monaco said, describing a shift from a subjective, anecdotal stoplight approach to an indicator-based concern/no-concern rating. Any indicator rated as a concern would require the charter school to submit an action plan that includes steps and target dates; unresolved concerns would rise to the annual report and inform renewal decisions.
Staff said STAR is intended primarily as an internal, formative tool to give schools time to address issues; only continuing or unaddressed concerns would become public as part of the monitoring report attached to 2.9. Monaco said the district plans to release STAR results to schools in December so they can develop action plans in the spring and finalize reports at the end of the school year.
Board members asked how quickly action plans would be closed and whether a similar model could be adapted for district-managed schools. Staff said high-priority concerns (for example, special-education compliance) would be expected to be resolved by the end of the school year, while some complex issues may require incremental steps over a longer timeline. Staff also said the STAR outputs would inform renewal-year site visits and the renewal application.
The presentation concluded with staff offering to accept feedback on the draft STAR framework and linking the STAR to monitoring report 2.9 materials scheduled for a future board packet.
Next steps: staff will finalize STAR language for the January monitoring report and circulate draft annual-report slides and indicators for board review and feedback.