The Charter School of San Diego

“Kids Come First” at The Charter School of San Diego (CSSD), 

which was authorized by the public San Diego Unified School 

District. The charter school provides free, personalized education 

to engage and redirect grade 6–12 students at risk of not graduating 

from high school through a hybrid in-person/online study program. 

CSSD currently serves about 3,500 students annually and since its 

establishment in 1994 has served nearly 48,000 students. CSSD is 

headquartered in San Diego, Calif., operates 13 instructional and 

educational resource center classrooms in San Diego County, and 

employs 130 workforce members.

This is the second Baldrige Award for The Charter School of San Diego;

the organization was honored in the same category in 2015.

Student-Learning Processes and 

Benchmark Results

• CSSD’s Pathways Personalized Education Program (PPEP) results 

in a personalized education plan for every student. PPEP inputs 

include feedback from students and their parents on student 

needs, barriers to learning, desired outcomes, and academic and 

learning style assessments.

• Resource Centers (classrooms) provide individualized attention 

focused on daily student progress toward successful high school 

graduation or transition back to traditional high school. Over 

the past five years, CSSD demonstrated an overall increase in 

successful transitions from 95.7% to 98.1%, exceeding its goal of 

95% each year.

• CSSD’s Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS) graduation 

rate for all students and student groups reached 77% in the 

2019-2020 school year, outperforming competitors and county 

and state DASS schools. A DASS school is designated by the 

state and must have at least 70% of its total enrollment comprised 

of high-risk groups such as high-transiency (multiple schools), 

credit deficient, homeless, or habitually truant students.

• CSSD student performance for grades 6–8 and 11 in the California 

Assessment of Student Performance and Progress is double that 

of all competitors and county and state DASS schools in English 

Language Arts and three times higher in math. CSSD has 

sustained this performance for five years.

Customer Results Close to 100%

• CSSD listens to, and seeks feedback from, students and their 

parents to obtain actionable information on its services through 

surveys, home visits, and social media platforms. CSSD maintained 

overall student and parent satisfaction levels of close to 100% 

from 2016 to 2021, compared to around 80% for brand-name, 

out-of-industry benchmarks.

2021 Award Recipient

Baldrige Performance Excellence Program • National Institute of Standards and Technology • Department of Commerce 

Highlights

• CSSD demonstrates an overall increase in successful 

transitions (high school graduation or transition back to 

traditional high school) from 95.7% to 98.1%.

• CSSD student performance for grades 6–8 and 11 in the 

California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress 

is double that of all competitors and county and state 

DASS schools in English Language Arts and three times 

higher in math.

• For the past six years, 95% of enrolled students would 

recommend CSSD to others, and 97% of students’ parents 

would recommend the school to a friend or family member.

• CSSD established a leading market position as the largest 

independent charter school in its operating area and 

has had the largest market share in San Diego.

• The graduation rate for high-risk students and student 

groups reached 77% in the 2019-2020 school year, 

outperforming competitors and county and state 

high-risk designated schools.

 
Baldrige Performance Excellence Program • National Institute of Standards and Technology • Department of Commerce 

2021 Award Recipient

The Charter School of San Diego 

• For the past six years, 95% of enrolled students would recommend 

CSSD to others, and 97% of students’ parents would recommend 

the school to a friend or family member.

People Processes Yield HighestOverall Results

• Over the past three years, CSSD has had the highest overall 

workforce engagement in a national engagement and satisfaction 

survey among all Baldrige Award recipient peers, and it averaged 

13 points higher than the K-12 industry benchmark.

• At CSSD, 100% of courses are taught by multi-certificated, 

specially trained teachers, which is a differentiator among CSSD 

and its competitors. Teachers with Leading Edge Certification—

which ensures that they have the skills to effectively facilitate 

students’ learning in online courses—increased from about 47% 

in the 2016-2017 academic year to 85% in 2020-2021.

• Results from CSSD’s Work Styles Behavior Survey of job candidates 

enable the school to identify individuals who are likely to be a 

good fit based on behavioral alignment with the organization’s 

mission, vision, and values. The school’s onboarding process 

includes training on best practices for new staff members and a 

shadowing program that pairs them with high-performing peers.

• CSSD has retained more than 90% of its instructional staff for 

the past six years. In 2019-2020, CSSD retained 91% of its staff, 

compared to the national average of 84%.

Leadership Results in Societal Benefit

CSSD senior leaders effectively communicate with and engage their 

staff and school community members through more than 20 different 

regular activities. These include the use of welcome cards, email, 

videos, social media, and open houses. Senior leaders communicate 

the vision and values through the sharing of student success stories 

and relaying thank yous from students and families. In a 2021 survey, 

97% of CSSD workforce members indicated that they were satisfied 

with their managers’ communication, compared to the K-12 industry 

benchmark of about 70%.

Financial Results Reveal Leading 

Market Position

• From FY2017-2018 to FY2020-2021, CSSD revenues have increased 

from $21 million to more than $23 million, net operating results 

have increased from $1.45 million to $1.69 million, and the 

end-of-year fund balance has increased from $32.98 million to 

$35.87 million. The current fund balance represents 156% of the 

annual operational budget, which would allow the school to 

remain afloat for more than one fiscal year without receiving any 

additional revenue.

• CSSD has established a leading market position as the largest 

independent charter school in its operating area, and it has had the 

largest market share in San Diego for the past five years.

Work Processes and Operational Effectiveness 

Support Innovation, Sustainability

• CSSD did not miss one single day of instruction during the 

COVID-19 pandemic. Senior leaders deployed a sustainable plan to 

all workforce members within hours. In addition, CSSD’s strong 

fiscal position allowed it to implement major process innovations 

such as e-signature capability, a cloud-based phone system, 

expansion of online meeting software, and the Wave (CSSD’s 

intranet).

• CSSD manages and supports innovation through its Process Design 

Introduction, Improvement, and Innovation System and Plan-DoLearn-Act process. If a need to innovate is identified, a champion is 

assigned, and a timeline and goals are established. Data are 

collected, and research is done to identify technology and 

resources needed.

Information and Knowledge Management 

for Real-Time Student Achievement

• CSSD’s Collaboration and Knowledge Management System 

(CKMS) aligns and integrates data collected and tracked 

electronically from students, the workforce, assessments, and 

operations and enables the transfer of knowledge to and from 

stakeholders. CSSD’s Best Practices portal facilitates the sharing 

of best practices among workforce members.

• Teachers use instructional and assessment software and access 

the School Pathways Student Information System to view realtime student achievement data. Data are analyzed by teachers, 

Learning Leads, and the Administrator of Instructional Services 

to ensure that the instructional strategies used are truly successful 

for each student.

For more information:

The Charter School of San Diego

10170 Huennekens St.

San Diego, CA 92121

(858) 678-2020

http://charterschool-sandiego.net

Baldrige Performance Excellence Program

The Baldrige Program educates organizations of all sizes and 

from all sectors in organizational performance management and 

improvement. We also administer the Malcolm Baldrige National

Quality Award. Our key services are to identify and recognize 

role-model organizations, share best management practices, 

and help organizations achieve best-in-class performance levels.

We are the only public-private partnership and Presidential award 

program dedicated to improving U.S. organizations. 

For more information on the Baldrige Program: 

www.nist.gov/baldrige | 301-975-2036 | baldrige@nist.gov