Governance

As of March 21, 2018

Match Education is the common brand name of three entities, Match Charter Public School (“MCPS”), The Match Foundation, Inc. (the “Foundation”), and The Charles Sposato Graduate School of Education, Inc. (“SGSE”). Match Education is also the D/B/A of the Foundation. Match Education otherwise has no legal significance. It is used for marketing and branding purposes for the three entities just listed. While these three organizations share this brand name and often collaborate, they are unique legal entities, each governed by independent boards of directors.

MATCH CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOL
Match Charter Public School is a charter public school. It is a public entity and is its own local education agency (LEA) (i.e. a school district). The charter receives public funding from both the state and federal governments. It is tuition-free and open to any resident of Boston. The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) grants and ultimately reviews the charter. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education regulates and monitors the charter on an ongoing basis.

MCPS is governed by a Board of Trustees. The trustees who oversee MCPS do not serve on the boards of the Foundation or SGSE. MCPS does not have a management contract with the Foundation or any outside entity.

The charter operates three physical campuses, each serving a distinct grade span. MCPS uses informal names to refer to specific grades and campuses within the charter. These names are Match High School, Match Middle School, and Match Community Day. Match High School serves students in grades 9 – 12 and is located at 1001 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Match Middle School serves students in grades 6 – 8 and is located at 215 Forest Hills Street in Jamaica Plain. Match Community Day serves students in grades pre-kindergarten to 5 and operates 100 Poydras Street in Hyde Park.

THE CHARLES SPOSATO GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
The Charles Sposato Graduate School of Education, Inc. is a graduate school of education that was incorporated and approved by the Massachusetts State Board of Higher Education on March 7, 2011. SGSE issues a Masters in Effective Teaching degree. The graduate school is a named after the late Charles Sposato, MCPS’ founding principal.

SGSE is a Massachusetts not-for-profit corporation and has received tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service. SGSE is regulated by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. It has an independent board of directors with no overlapping board members on the boards of MCPS and the Foundation.

SGSE admits students who are master’s candidates. The candidates simultaneously and separately function as tutors in MCPS or as assistant teachers in various public schools in the greater Boston area. These graduate students are coached and trained by the faculty of SGSE over a two-year period, culminating in the awarding of a degree.

While legally distinct and while governed autonomously, SGSE collaborates closely with the staff of MCPS as many of its graduate students are, for the first year of the two-year program, tutors at MCPS.

THE MATCH FOUNDATION
The Match Foundation, Inc. is a Massachusetts not-for-profit corporation and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity. It was incorporated in 1999, and it is governed by a board of directors with no overlapping board members on the boards of MCPS and SGSE. The Foundation does not manage nor does it oversee any aspect of MCPS or SGSE.

The Foundation has four primarily roles.

First, the Foundation raises money for MCPS and SGSE and, in particular, helps to structure and fund the real estate transactions that provide facilities for MCPS.

Second, the Foundation employs a small number of finance, marketing and development staff which, in addition to serving the working needs of the Foundation, provides services free of charge for MCPS and SGSE.

Third, the Foundation employs staff who disseminate the knowledge and practices that originate in the work of MCPS and SGSE. The body of work is referred to as Match Export. This body of work includes the consulting to districts that are interested in replicating Match practices, consulting work done with charter networks that are interested in replicating Match’s teacher training model, and publishing Match’s accumulated intellectual property in written and digital formats (e.g. books, MOOCs, web-sites, etc.).

Fourth, the Foundation employees staff that operate an innovated college and jobs model that helps young adults in Boston complete college and find a job. This body of work is called Duet.