National Charter Schools Week 2017 (May 1-5) and we’re excited to do our part to support some of the exciting events and state Advocacy Days this year. We’re happy to take this opportunity to recognize and raise public awareness for charter schools, while celebrating their many academic successes.
Charter school education has grown steadily since the first charter law passed in 1991 in Minnesota. Today there are nearly 7,000 public charter schools serving more than 3 million students nationwide in 44 states plus the District of Columbia – this is a sixfold increase from just 15 years ago and is the first year the 3 million mark has been surpassed.
There are many activities this week to celebrate and support charter schools. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools offers a free downloadable toolkit with social channel logos to help promote awareness of the week, as well as other materials like a sample press release, sample op-ed piece, and a state proclamation worksheet to request that your state’s governor recognize Charter School Week.
In accordance with the increased efforts this year to raise charter school awareness amongst the nation’s lawmakers, the National Alliance is also recognizing what they call “Charter Champions” – these are the federal, state and local government officials who are pushing through policies aimed at helping the charter school movement continue to grow and thrive. They’ll be honored at a reception at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, May 3rd.
Special attention is also being given to charter school graduates, with the #30DaysofGrads campaign spotlighting some of the thousands of students graduating this year. Charter school students are invited to submit their photos and essays about their charter school experiences in order to be featured – the 30 days of Grads kicks off on the first day of National Charter School Week, May 1st.
Other events are happening at state capitols around the country for Advocacy Day on Tuesday, May 2nd. The California Charter Schools Association will be leading a group of charter school advocates in a day of meetings with local legislators at the state capitol in Sacramento. Michigan Association of Public Charter Schools will also be holding a “Day at the Capitol,” in Lansing, Michigan which will include charter school performances, meetings with State Legislators and social promotion of the event using the #CelebrateCharters hashtag.
Our team will be following along and featuring some of these National Charter Schools Week activities on our social channels including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. We invite you to join the conversation as well, by using some of the free social logos and using the #NCSW2017 hashtag.
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