A-GAME Community
Join to gain access to resources and tools on the A-GAME Community Dashboard.
Are you an Epicenter user? Join Here
The A-GAME Community is open to all board members, leaders of schools and authorizing agencies. Free of charge.
It took a country overcome by a pandemic, divided by politics, and distracted by social media for many of us to realize that schools are responsible for much more than teaching reading, writing and math. Charter school authorizers have the opportunity to influence how schools support their students' recovery by measuring what matters most, which we call the A-GAME: Assess--Global access, Academics, Mission, and Equity and Engagement. Help design these NEXT practices by being at the table.
Join the A-GAME Community to participate in networking and gain access to resources, videos, data, and documents in the A-GAME Community Dashboard in the Charter Network. This community is open to all board members, leaders of schools, authorizing agencies and their advocates, free of charge.
Dates of the 2023-24 Community Meetings are:
- Feb 14, 2024 from 1:00 - 2:30 EST | Virtual
- April 3, 2024 from 1:00 - 2:30 EST | Virtual
- May 2, 2024 at 12:00 - May 3, at 2:30 CDT | In Person: Chicago, IL
Measure What Matters, When it Matters
COVID has disrupted lives, schools, and the data and information board members and leaders of schools and authorizing agencies are accustomed to using to define "school quality." This disruption is an opportunity to challenge our assumptions and challenge our practices both on the indicators we use to measure school quality and when a school is identified as showing signs of distress. The A-GAME Community of Changemakers provides a safe, confidential, and structured environment for leaders of both schools and authorizers to share experiences and build NEXT practices together.
Are you an Epicenter user? Join Here
The A-GAME Community is open to all board members, leaders of charter schools, authorizers and their advocates, free of charge.
Membership includes:
- Instant access to the A-GAME Community Dashboard, full of helpful resources, tools and information.
- Participation in facilitated convenings (virtual and in-person) on current topics of national interest.
- Exclusive access to A-GAME's state and national performance data for all public schools.
- Early access to new resources and tools.
- Two-hours of free expert consultancy with an A-GAME facilitator (e.g., feedback on frameworks, thought partnership, data analysis and more).
- Discounted rates on all A-GAME services and supports.
Types of Expert Consultancy
For Authorizers | Designing Frameworks
Be one of the 15 authorizing agencies that work with A-GAME facilitators one-on-one to revise your current framework and/or renewal process to incorporate A-GAME's Responsive Goals. By partnering with families and schools and using examples from other authorizers and national data, we support you in creating the oversight atmosphere that will result in schools that are responsive to your families and schools' needs.
For Schools | Unique Goals
Be one of the 9 schools (either independently or in partnership with your authorizer) that works with A-GAME facilitators to create charter-specific goals outside of state or authorizing frameworks to monitor continuous improvement or oversight related to authorizing, funding, or board governance.
For Agencies | Goals to Identify Distressed Schools
Join a cohort of 6 authorizing agencies that will work together and with WestEd facilitators to create customized Indicators of Distress that can help you identify schools that are struggling prior to them falling into Priority Status or have results that could lead to non-renewal.
More A-GAME Videos
Work with this group of Change-makers!
The A-GAME Community is now led by a coalition of 15 early adopters. These authorizers have changed their accountability process and are here to help you think outside the box to address the gaps in your current academic oversight, academic frameworks, and renewal processes.
Testimonials
The collaboration with the A-GAME and charter school leaders offers us an opportunity to refocus our thinking on how schools can best capture and reset goals to promote and highlight successful student outcomes based on data, experience, and personalization.
Delia Castillo
Los Angles County Office of Education
Our work with A-GAME was extraordinarily helpful. Naomi and the team facilitated several exercises that helped us reimagine our work with alternative high schools (and really all charter schools) through an equity-driven lens. This step was critical to moving our work forward and provided tangible next steps to focus on with schools. The process brought great energy to the specific need for alternative accountability.
Erin E. Anderson
Osprey Wilds Environmental Learning Center
A critical part of our work as authorizers is to build trusting relationships with charter school leaders. We are leaning into our relationships with schools more than ever before to better support staff, students, and families. By staying student-focused, we are able to prioritize what is most important to our work.
Corey Loomis
Riverside County Office of Education
More A-GAME Services
Authorizer Cohort
Do you have a vision for a new accountability system or more meaningful goals and measures? Do you wish you could collaborate with others to ensure you get it right? If so, this cohort is for you. Matched with two other authorizers who have similar interests and timelines, you will follow a structured process, designed to refine your thinking and turn your vision into action.
Framework Redesign
Are you seeking to redesign your school performance framework to measure what truly matters to your community? The A-GAME Framework redesign expands how you evaluate schools. We go beyond a one-size-fits-all model to one that embraces diversity of mission and learning models.
Differentiated School Goals
If you are ready to engage your schools in a deeper conversation about what truly matters and create responsive goals that are not only relevant and rigorous but also fair and equitable, then this option is for you.
Academic Scorecards
If you are ready to take the mystery out of renewal, then Academic Scorecards are for you. We'll help you make school performance transparent and understandable so all stakeholders can see how schools measure up, even when they have differentiated goals and missions.