A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Preface

The National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance, Policymaking, and Management is part of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) in the U.S. Department of Education. The Institute was created by the Education Research, Development, Dissemination, and Improvement Act of 1994. Our mission is to provide leadership and support for research and development that examines the critical governance, finance, policymaking and management aspects of teaching and learning. The purpose of the work is to identify research that holds short-term and long-term consequences for policymakers and educators and to disseminate findings from such work in the most useful ways in order to help them design, implement, and sustain effective education reforms.

Toward that end, the Institute is committed to targeting its program of research toward helping address the emerging and enduring issues being faced by the Institute's clients - America's education policymakers, practitioners, and other education leaders. In order to constructively influence policy and management decisions, information and products based on research must target the right audience, in the most useful form, at the right time.

The publication of this paper contributes to this objective. Interest in charter school policy continues to grow even as state legislatures adjourn for 1998. Before they reconvene, as one state takes stock of what others have done already, it is apparent that the 1999 legislative session will see more states take up the issue.

This publication was written to address the emerging policy issues related to charter school reform in our nation. Because the approach to establishing charter schools can vary so widely from state to state, the Institute commissioned the Education Commission of the States and the National Conference of State Legislatures to create a document that legislators and policymakers can use. This is not a history of charter schools. It's not quite a "How To" manual. Rather, it's a survey - a mapping, if you will - of the charter school landscape. It's intended to guide policymakers through areas they need to examine in their initial consideration of charter schools or their reevaluation of existing charter school legislation.

We sincerely hope its audience will find The Charter School Roadmap useful for these purposes.

Deborah Inman, Director
National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance,
Policymaking, and Management

[The Charter School Roadmap]

[Acknowledgments]

This page was last updated January 9, 2002 (jca)