Charter School Governance and Politics

The lack of quality education many charter schools offer disproportionately and adversely impacts communities of color. This article considered two models of charter school governance in use by California and Ohio. The first model posits that a fundamental tenet of charter schools is freedom from the burdensome bureaucracy traditional public schools bear. Based on the argument that deregulation enables charter schools to employ more innovative instructional and management practices, it assumes higher achievement scores would follow. The second model proposes to address educational inequality by increasing accountability on charter school authorizers by increasing regulatory practices. These models example the variety of governance models extant. In addition, arguments supporting each model are presented. The authors conclude with a discussion that supports the position that while autonomy is essential to maintaining the original objectives of charter schools, states must hold authorizers accountable for student achievement.

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Charter School Governance

Charter School Outcomes ◽

10.4324/9781315095806-7 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 113-130

Author(s):

Paul T. Hill ◽

Robin J. Lake

Keyword(s):

Charter School ◽

School Governance

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Improve governance for charters

Phi Delta Kappan ◽

10.1177/0031721717696481 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 98 (6) ◽

pp. 63-69

Author(s):

Chester E. Finn ◽

Bruno V. Manno ◽

Brandon L. Wright

Keyword(s):

Charter Schools ◽

School Leadership ◽

Charter School ◽

Linear Extension ◽

School Governance ◽

Years Of Experience ◽

The Past ◽

The Future

With 25 years of experience, the charter sector has had enough time to experience a host of unanticipated and unresolved problems related to the complex ways in which charter school governance relates to school leadership. The time has come for the sector to revisit some fundamental decisions about how charter schools and networks are governed, both to tighten arrangements that are excessively loose and to encourage further innovation. The future of chartering should not be a linear extension of the past. If we left some problems unsolved in 1991 (or had no idea that they would become problems), that is no reason not to take stock of things as they stand today and to set matters right before moving forward. This article is based on the authors’ book, Charter Schools at the Crossroads: Predicaments, Paradoxes, Possibilities (Harvard Education Press, 2016).

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Are California’s Charter Schools the New Separate-But-Equal “Schools of Excellence,” or Are They Worse Than Plessy?

Journal of Transformative Leadership & Policy Studies ◽

10.36851/jtlps.v7i1.497 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 43-52 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Joseph O. Oluwole ◽

Preston C. Green

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Charter Schools ◽

Charter School ◽

Management Practices ◽

Educational Inequality ◽

School Governance ◽

Quality Education ◽

Communities Of Color ◽

Traditional Public Schools ◽

Governance Models

The lack of quality education many charter schools offer disproportionately and adversely impacts communities of color. This article considered two models of charter school governance in use by California and Ohio. The first model posits that a fundamental tenet of charter schools is freedom from the burdensome bureaucracy traditional public schools bear. Based on the argument that deregulation enables charter schools to employ more innovative instructional and management practices, it assumes higher achievement scores would follow. The second model proposes to address educational inequality by increasing accountability on charter school authorizers by increasing regulatory practices. These models example the variety of governance models extant. In addition, arguments supporting each model are presented. The authors conclude with a discussion that supports the position that while autonomy is essential to maintaining the original objectives of charter schools, states must hold authorizers accountable for student achievement.

Download Full-text