Peer Reviewer

Join Great Schools Colorado as a Peer Reviewer

Peer reviewers from across the country are invited to join Great Schools Colorado in evaluating charter school grant applications for current and future competitions. Applications are open (see the form below).

Program Purpose
The Charter School Program Grant is a federally funded grant intended to meet demand for alternatives to existing public school options in Colorado through the Great Schools Colorado project by creating high-quality charter school seats in communities interested in alternative models that better meet students' needs. The program is designed with two main objectives: to increase the number of high-quality charter school seats in Colorado and to improve the overall quality of Colorado’s charter school sector. GSC plans to award up to seven (7) new subgrants in its second year of the five-year grant. 

Desired Areas of Expertise
It is preferred that reviewers be thoroughly familiar with Colorado’s education system and have experience with charter school authorization, assessment and evaluation, and charter school development or leadership. Also preferred experience in high-quality charter school start-up and expansion. 

Expectations of Reviewers
Diverse teams of reviewers will be selected based on their experience, grant application type, proposed school models, and absence of real or perceived conflicts.

Before being assigned applications for scoring, peer reviewers will attend training sessions highlighting four objectives, including how the GSC project was designed to broaden students' access to high-quality learning opportunities. Applications will be reviewed in teams of three, and each team will be assigned approximately three applications for review during a given cycle.

Reviewers will read and assess their assigned applications individually, then collaborate with their team members to reach a consensus score and feedback for each application. The League will then debrief each team to finalize scores, feedback, and funding recommendations. The honorarium is $1,000 to score 2-3 applications.

Conflicts of Interest
If you are unsure if a conflict of interest will preclude your participation, please let us know, and we can help determine whether you are still eligible to participate, whether that means recusing yourself from specific applications, regions, etc. Interested parties may be ineligible to serve as reviewers if they:

• Have assisted in the preparation of an application in this competition or are employed by an eligible applicant who intends to apply or has already applied for this current competition.
• Have agreed to serve as an employee or consultant, agreed to provide assistance or advice to an applicant otherwise, or have been offered an opportunity to do so and have not yet accepted or declined, based on whether a grant is awarded.
• Have a personal financial interest affected by the outcome of this grant competition.

Tell a Friend or Colleague!
If you know someone with the appropriate qualifications who would be interested in this review opportunity, please share this page with them.

How to Make Your Interest Known
If you are available and interested in participating in this review process, please complete the short interest form below to share your experience and availability. This is the first step in selecting reviewers. Responding with your interest does not guarantee your participation. 

Fill out the form below for the FY2026 Competition

(If you don't see the form above, contact [email protected])

Confirmation of Reviewers
Reviewers are selected based on their relevant qualifications and the number of grant applications received. 

For questions, please contact Great Schools Colorado: [email protected].