Become a Member
Our membership represents over 200 individual schools serving over 90,000 students.
Membership Requirements
Basic Requirements
- A prospective member school must be an independent site charter school or a CMO that operates at least one charter school.
- A prospective member school must serve grades Pre-K-12 (in any configuration).
- A prospective member must be founded as a brick-and-mortar school.
- A prospective member must be under non-profit governance and operated by a non-profit entity.
- A prospective member school must be operating under a current charter and must have students enrolled or must be enrolling its first class within one year of submitting an application.
- A prospective member school must be in good standing with its authorizer.
- DCSC accepts charter schools in the United States including all 50 states, its federal district, and territories.
Diversity Standards
- Diversity: Students, staff and board members are representative of a diverse group of identities, backgrounds and experiences and have the opportunity to have daily interaction and form deep relationships
- Equity: School’s diversity goals and strategies are connected to the larger goal of achieving equity in student outcomes
- Inclusion: Reflects and works in collaboration with the various socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, language, gender, and disability groups within the school community to foster positive school climate and culture which incorporates anti-racism
Membership Benefits
Annual Convening
All staff at DCSC member schools register for our Annual Convening — the leading gathering of the diverse-by-design movement — at the member rate. DCSC members are also given early access to registration before the general public.
Communities of Practice
DCSC offers its preeminent professional development for free to staff at DCSC member schools. Members are able to participate in any number of Communities of Practice and may send any staff.
DCSC Jobs Board
DCSC’s jobs board is the only national jobs board exclusively for diverse-by-design schools. DCSC members are given free access to post unlimited job opportunities.
UnifiED Leadership Development Program
Schools and networks apart of the Coalition in good standing can serve as a host site for our UnifiED school launch fellows and can participate in this leadership development which includes excellent school visits (ESVs) throughout the year.
Membership Dues
We make every effort to center equity in our work. So we’ve developed a model for annual membership dues that accounts for state funding and school size.
| State Per Pupil Funding (in SY 22-23) | School Enrollment Level | |||||
| 1-250 | 251-500 | 501-750 | 751-1000 | 1001-2000 | 2001+ | |
| <$10,000 | $1,000 | $1,250 | $1,500 | $1,750 | $2,250 | $2,500 |
| $10,000 - $12,000 | $1,250 | $1,500 | $1,750 | $2,000 | $3,000 | $3,500 |
| $12,000 - $15,000 | $1,500 | $1,750 | $2,000 | $2,250 | $3,500 | $7,500 |
| +$15,000 | $1,750 | $2,000 | $2,500 | $3,500 | $4,500 | $8,500 |
How to Apply
DCSC currently holds two application cycles:
- Our fall application launches in September with schools being notified of a decision in January.
- Our spring application launches in March with schools being notified of a decision in June.
If you’re interested in applying for membership:
- Complete the interest form
- You will be contacted before the start of our next application cycle (you can also follow up at info@diversecharters.org)
- You will receive a Membership application which requests information on:
– Your school’s vision and commitment to DEI
– Your school’s student, teacher and leadership demographics
– Your school’s student achievement data (from the most recent administered state test or internal assessment) - Your application will be reviewed by DCSC’s team and membership committee with final approval resting with the full DCSC board
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