This plan must articulate the performance objectives it has established for its students, as well as the school itself. It must also define how its progress toward objectives is to be measured. The charter school office provides limited guidance and consultation to each school for the development of its accountability plan using a common format, and approves each plan once it is sufficiently clear, coherent, comprehensive, and consistent with high academic standards. A charter school must report on progress toward the objectives stated in its accountability plan in an annual report to the Department of Education and the public. An annual report re-states the objectives articulated in its accountability plan, indicates the assessment tools used to measure progress and performance against those objectives, and presents a summary and analysis of data produced by such assessments.
Annual reports serve as the basis of each school s public record of performance.
Because annual reports also serve as a tool for public relations, schools are encouraged to design their reports in a manner that provides a clear picture of their school for all interested readers, whether they be prospective students and their parents, researchers, foundations, journalists, or the general public. Site visit During the second and third years of a school s operation, a charter school undergoes a day-long site visit led by the Department of Education s charter school staff. As mentioned in the overview, the primary purposes of a site visit are to corroborate and augment the information contained in a school s annual report, especially regarding stated progress relative to student and school performance objectives. The site visit provides an opportunity for a volunteer, independent team with experience in and outside schools learn as much as it can about the general operation and performance of a school. Each site visit team is comprised of a small team of Massachusetts citizens with collective expertise in teaching and organizational leadership usually comprised of teachers, school leaders, and parents.