Alice Opalka

Research Analyst

aopalka@uw.edu

CV:

alice_opalka_2018.pdf

Research:

Portfolio Strategy,

District-Charter Collaboration

Alice Opalka is a research analyst at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, where she works on projects related to portfolio strategy, cross-sector collaboration, system governance, and more. Before joining CRPE, Alice was an Education Pioneers Fellow in Los Angeles, an AmeriCorps volunteer coordinator at a children’s literacy organization in Los Angeles, and a college access mentor with College Access Now in Seattle. Alice holds a BA in Environmental Analysis from Scripps College, and an MPA from the University of Southern California.

11/2019

A Middle Way for States in the ESSA Era: Lessons from Texas

The report examines the Texas Education Agency’s System of Great Schools (SGS) initiative, which calls on districts to manage school performance in new ways, expands access to school choice options, and takes a dynamic approach to managing their supply of schools....

10/2019

Seizing the Opportunity: Educating Students with Disabilities in Charter Schools

This report is the first step in developing an evidence base about how charter schools meet the needs of unique learners, how they can improve in this work, and what aspects of chartering as a governance model support...

06/2019

Student Mobility in Kansas City

This brief examines student mobility in Kansas City Public Schools.

04/2018

Lessons Learned About District-Charter Partnerships: How Sharing Instructional Practices Can Pave the Way for More Collaboration

An overview of the district-charter collaboration landscape and one strategy that many cities are pursuing: sharing instructional practices across...

01/2018

Collision Course: Embracing Politics to Succeed in District-Charter Collaboration

This report examines how politics shapes the work of district-charter collaboration and offers strategies for district and charter leaders to improve their chances of success.

‘It’s Not My Problem!’ Why Charter Schools and Districts Need to Work Together on the Politics of School Closure

Jul 13 2017

Robin Lake and Alice Opalka write on the importance of collaboration between school districts and charter schools in this piece for Education Next.

“It’s Not My Problem!” Why Charter Schools and Districts Need to Work Together on the Politics of School Closure

Jun 15 2017

Robin Lake and Alice Opalka discuss the importance of cross-sector cooperation when it comes to replacing low-performing schools.

This brief provides an assessment of lessons learned in the first two years of RESCHOOL Colorado’s initiatives to expand access to out-of-school learning opportunities for children in the Denver area.

Two briefs provide a summary of the special education landscape in New Orleans and Washington, D.C., and offer recommendations for further steps that might be taken to strengthen the cities’ support structures for parents of children with disabilities.