The following charter management organizations are eligible for The Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools in 2016:

Achievement First, Inc.

Alliance College-Ready Public Schools

Aspire Public Schools

Breakthrough Charter Schools

California Virtual Academies

Camino Nuevo Charter Academy (CNCA)

Celerity Educational Group

Concept Schools

Democracy Prep Public Schools

Denver School of Science and Technology Public Schools

EdKey Inc.

Friendship Public Charter School

Gateway Community Charter Schools

Green Dot Public Schools

Harmony Public Schools

High Tech High

IDEA Public Schools

Imagine Schools, Inc.

Lawndale Educational and Regional

Lifeschool of Dallas

Lighthouse Academies

Magnolia Educational and Research Foundation

Mastery Charter Schools

Options for Youth

Partnerships to Uplift Communities

Performance Academies

Propel Schools

Rocketship Education

Success Academy Charter Schools

Universal Companies

UNO Charter School Network

Uplift Education

Yes Prep

The Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools Eligibility Criteria

Charter management organizations that have been operating a minimum of five schools for at least four years and which serve sizable percentages of poor and minority students are automatically eligible. Organizations cannot apply or be nominated for the award.

To be eligible for the award in 2016, a charter management organization must have:

  • Five or more charter schools in operation as of 2011-12
  • 2,500 students or more enrolled each year since 2011-12
  • At least 40 percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch in 2012-13
  • At least 33 percent of students are students of color in 2012-13

Winners from the previous three years are ineligible. In 2016, Noble, KIPP and Uncommon Schools are ineligible.

These criteria were established to ensure that the charter management organizations considered for The Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools are comparable, in that they serve a significant number of students, share similar demographics, have been in existence long enough to yield multiple years of data and organize multiple schools under the same management organization.

Most charter schools that are ineligible for the award are single-operators that are not affiliated with a charter management organization. Although many ineligible individual charter schools have made strong student gains and have important lessons to share, the practical need to collect and run comparable data made the inclusion of all charter schools impossible at this point.

Only models with schools in existence for at least four years – long enough to establish a robust set of data – will be eligible. And organizations that outsource school operations to other charter management organizations do not qualify.

Charter organizations that serve entirely special populations are not eligible. Organizations that operate some schools that serve entirely special populations must meet the above eligibility criteria based on the enrollment in their regular schools, and only the student achievement results for their regular schools are included in the Broad Prize analysis.

As the number of charter management organizations and schools continues to grow in future years, it is likely that many more charter management organizations will become eligible for the annual award.

The Broad Foundation will continue to review the eligibility criteria and will make revisions to future eligibility requirements deemed necessary to establish the most appropriate, fair and useful comparison possible.