But first, we hear from Cady Ching, the new Executive Director of Summit Public Schools, another charter that is growing the next gen of college graduates. 

Changemakers Interview Series: California is home to the largest population of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. As such, charter public schools educate students with ties to countries as different as China, India, Samoa, and Vietnam. Cady Ching, the  new executive director of Summit Public Schools, understands their student experience . CCSA’s President and CEO Myrna Castrejón recently sat down with Cady to talk about her background and how it shapes her work as the new leader of a leading charter public school network. 

Research Spotlight: The state’s charter sector has a lot to be proud of this year. CCSA’s annual report entitled Portrait of the Movement: How CA Charter Public Schools Are Preparing Students for College and Career  finds charters are sending a significant number of historically disadvantaged students to UC and CSU campuses compared to the traditional public school average.  We dive into data with Jonathan Slakey, CCSA's Managing Director of School Performance, Accountability, and Research at CCSA.  

Best In Class Series feat. Lighthouse Community Public Schools: CCSA's 2024 Portrait of the Movement  identified 10 charters that are truly the “Best in Class” when it comes to preparing students for college and career. We speak to leaders at one of those schools, Lighthouse Community Public Schools in Oakland, about their best practices.  

Host Ana Tintocalis plays clips from both films and interviews: 

• Eugene Fisher, Co-Founder and Board President, Watts Learning Center 
• Skip Hansen, Co-Founder and President, Lifelong Learning

Changemakers Interview Series: The tables are turned on CCSA’s fearless leader Myrna Castrejón. Instead of hosting our Changemakers segment, she’s our special guest! Learn more about one of the most powerful charter school female leaders in the U.S. Cristina De Jesus of Green Dot Public Schools CA serves as guest host.

Reflections on Female Leadership in the Charter Sector: Tap into the great mind of Amy Held, Executive Director Larchmont Charter School, one of the highest-performing public schools in Los Angeles. Amy has been leading Larchmont’s expansion over the years and reflects on her leadership style, the benefits of having women in leadership, and barriers for female leaders. Amy sits down with CCSA Director of Local Advocacy in L.A. Kasey Kokenda for the interview.

Postcards from Charterland: This month’s audio postcard comes from a charter school student who is skateboarding her way to success.  Thirteen-year-old Katelyn West attends California Pacific Charter Schools. Katelyn lives in Sebastopol and discovered her love for skateboarding a couple years ago and is now training to qualify for the 2028 Olympics.

Spreading the Joy of Tiny Houses: During the holidays, we often pause to reflect on what we’re grateful for, like having a place to call home. But owning a home is still out of reach for most individuals and families living in California. One charter public school helping alleviate the problem at a local level is The Learning Choice Academy (TLC), a public hybrid charter school in San Diego County. For the past four years, high school students enrolled in the school’s career tech program have been building and selling “tiny homes” as part of its “Tiny House Project.”

My View From Here (audio commentary): Learn4Life is one of the most prominent charter public school networks in California that specializes in personalized learning. Its mission is to curb the state’s high school dropout rate by offering some of the most vulnerable students another chance to earn their diploma through a flexible, independent study option. In this “My View From Here” audio commentary, we hear from Skip Hansen, Co-Founder and President of Lifelong Learning, a nonprofit which manages the Learn 4 Life charter public school network. He says personalized learning is critical in K-12 public education because its transforming the lives of countless students who have given up hope. 

Charter School Facilities: Finding a permanent school facility is the dream of many charter school leaders in California. But the lack of affordable real estate, the lack of space in big cities, and certain school authorizers can make finding a site extremely difficult. Pacific Charter School Development is a real estate development firm that's helping solve that problem. Tune in to hear PCSD's CEO John Sun offer his expertise.  

Building a "Zoo School": Former NFL player Robert Golden is tackling his biggest challenge yet -- building a new state-of-the-art facility for Golden Charter Academy, his TK-8th grade charter school that has unique partnership with the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.

Hispanic Heritage Month: We honor Hispanic Heritage Month by bringing you the story of Angelica Sandez, a Latina charter school student in Fresno who’s  determined to be a NASA engineer.

• Dr. Cristina de Jesus, president and CEO of Green Dot Public Schools CA.
• Antonio Villaraigosa, former Mayor of Los Angeles and charter school ally
• Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

Join Myrna Castrejón, President and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association, as she interviews these three influential leaders who have helped or are helping grow high-quality charter public schools options in the Golden State. 

Changemakers: CCSA's President & CEO Myrna Castrejón interviews Ana Ponce, Executive Director of GPSN, a nonprofit intermediary organization working to improve the public school system in Los Angeles. She discusses the importance of measuring the effectiveness of programs in LAUSD, engaging students outside the school day, and how families and community members need to continue pushing for changes.

Research Spotlight: CCSA's new report, The Face of California's Charter Public School Teachers, offers the first comprehensive look at the charter educator workforce in California in recent history. We highlight the findings and hear from two veteran charter school teachers who offer insight as to why teachers are attracted to and remain working at charter public schools.

My View From Here (Audio Commentary): As they school year comes to an end, Dr. Steve Olmos, the Superintendent of Visions In Education, share his thoughts on why school leaders need to be honest with themselves about what's working for their students, and what needs to change. 

• Cameron Curry, CEO, The Classical Academies (San Diego) 
• Anthony Durham, parent leader, Summit Public Schools Tamalpais (Richmond)
• Neil McCurdy, The School of Entrepreneurship and Technology (San Diego)  

Changemakers: Former CA Governor Jerry Brown brings his no-nonsense philosophy on education policy and politics as a guest on the CharterNation Podcast this month.

Brown, who also served as the Mayor of the City of Oakland, sits down with CCSA’s President and CEO Myrna Castrejón for an exclusive interview about establishing his own charter public schools in Oakland and how California district schools can benefit from a healthy public school sector. 

Changemakers: We’re capping Women’s History Month by bringing you an exclusive  interview with one of California’s most fearless female political leaders and education equity champions: Secretary of State Dr. Shirley N. Weber. 

 Dr. Weber is California’s first Black Secretary of State appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom three years ago. She served four terms in the State Assembly representing San Diego communities and advanced key public education policies. 

Secretary of State Weber was a professor in the Department of Africana Studies at San Diego State. She was also a trustee on the San Diego Unified School Board. 

Myrna Castrejón, President and CEO of the California Charter Schools Association, sat down with Madam Secretary to talk about Dr. Weber’s incredible personal story, her thoughts on the charter school movement – then and now – as well as her daughter – Assemblymember Dr. Akilah Weber who’s following in her mother’s political footsteps. 

Changemakers: CCSA's President & CEO Myrna Castrejón interviews Cristina de Jesus, President & CEO of Green Dot Public Schools California. De Jesus is one of the most influential female leaders of charter schools in the Golden State. She talks about the evolution of Green Dot in CA, lessons learned, and how her charter schools are accelerating learning post-pandemic.

Charter Spotlight: We take a tour of Girls Athletic Leadership School Los Angeles, also known as GALS L.A., to find out how this all-girls charter middle school is motivating and empowering the next gen of female scholars & leaders.   

Honoring Susan Steelman Bragato: Every year CCSA awards the Susan Steelman Bragato scholarship to 10 charter school students. We hear from a past award winner, Jose Aguirre, to understand out how Susan's legacy lives on. 

Changemakers: CCSA's President & CEO Myrna Castrejón interviews Dr. Helen V. Griffith, Executive Director of The Preuss School UC San Diego, about this school's unique partnership with UCSD and the need to grow more UC-charter public schools in California.

Charter Spotlight: We venture to AIMS High School in Oakland to understand how educators are advancing the academic achievement of its Black Students. We also attend a college expo at AIMS where recruiters from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) offer on-site acceptance letters and scholarships to AIMS seniors.

My View From Here (Audio Commentary): Jason Sample, Superintendent of Gateway Community Charters, explains why he believes Black History Month is something we should celebrate all year long. 

Charter Spotlight: Join us as we take an audio field trip to Sacramento Valley Charter School, the only charter in CA offering Punjabi language instruction.  

In this episode, we also take you to two outstanding charter public schools in honor of National Charter Schools Week. The first stop: St HOPE's Public School 7 Elementary in Sacramento that's working to grow the next generation of Black and Latino scholars. 

The second stop: The Multicultural Learning Center in the San Fernando Valley that's ensuring its students are bi-literate in Spanish and English by the 8th grade. 

#ChartersAt30 Part 1  

• Change Makers interview feat. CCSA's President/CEO Myrna Castrejón interviewing Caprice Young, the founding president/CEO of CCSA. 
• A Tribute to Gary Heart feat. former state Sen. Ember Reichgott Junge 
• The Face of Charter School Success: Aryanna Baytop, Granada Hills Charter HS graduate, freshman at Tulane University

Our special guest is Laura McGowan-Robinson, the founder and CEO of the Diversity in Leadership Institute based in Los Angeles. Her organization is working to build an effective pipeline of Black teachers and administrators in California. She talks about the systemic challenges that current and aspiring Black educators face. 

Then, we hear from Christiana Cobb-Dozier, a Black school counselor at Resolute Academy located in the South Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts. She talks about how she's working to help students manage grief, depression and anxiety.

Later in the episode, we switch gears and head to San Diego County for a slice of charter school like at The Learning Choice Academy (TLC), a hybrid homeschool thats working to grow a new generation of "tiny home" builders and engineers.  

 In our Change Makers segment, CCSA's President and CEO Myrna Castrejón interviews Ted Lempert, Executive Director of Children Now, a research and advocacy organization in Oakland. Lempert talks about education funding today under the state’s Local Control Funding Formula and what his organization is doing to ensure all students get a high-quality, equitable education. 

Finally, we bring you an audio postcard from Para Los Ninos in Los Angeles which is offering digital literacy classes to their Spanish speaking parents. Parents learn everything from sending an email to downloading Zoom so they can join meetings. 

First, as part of our Change Makers interview series, CCSA's President/CEO Myrna Castrejón interviews Jay Artis-Wright, the new executive director of Parent Revolution.

Then, spend time with a Christiana Cobb-Dozier also  known as "Ms. CD" by her students. She's a school counselor at Resolute Academy Charter School in the Watts community of South L.A. Christiana shares how she's helping students manage grief and anxiety so they can stay focused in school.

And finally, we hear from Alfredo Rubalcava, the CEO/Superintendent of Magnolia Public Schools which has just launched its Portrait of a Graduate initiative.

That’s why we’re thrilled to announce the launch of our CharterNation Podcast—the only podcast dedicated to California’s charter school movement! We hope you’ll join us for our first episode (EP1 S1) which debuts on Thursday, Sept. 16.