On July 13, 2012, SECC staff members with Constance Barnes, of the SCDE, attended and provided feedback on a meeting of the South Carolina Public Charter School District’s Board to observe the startup charter applicant review process. SECC provided feedback on the process to the SCDE, who then shared it with the SC Public Charter School District. SECC staff also continued to provide resources to support the charter school unit in its efforts.

SECC staff members provided onsite technical assistance to the charter school unit, June 13 –15, 2012. During this time, SECC staff members assisted the SCDE in the review of the current SC charter school startup application, reviewed other identified state charter applications, completed a crosswalk of the SC charter application and other identified state applications, and assisted in the revision of the SC startup charter application. SECC staff members also participated in the review of SC startup charter applications with the SC Charter School Advisory Board. SECC staff members observed the review process and recorded member feedback on the applications. SECC staff then discussed the observations with the SCDE and made recommendations to strengthen the process. The SCDE requested that SECC staff participate in a July review session to be held by the SC Public Charter School District Board of new startup charter applicants.

On May 14, 2012, SECC staff met with Constance Barnes at the SCDE to outline the scope of work for this project. The scope of work includes providing assistance with the review of the 2012–2013 charter school applications as well as providing feedback in the refinement of the current advisory board charter school application review process, the state charter school application process, and charter school leadership training. The charter school application review assistance is scheduled to occur on June 13–15, 2012.