Archived Information

A Study of Charter Schools: First Year Report - May 1997

Chapter IV

Who Originates Charter Schools

Although the founding of charter schools occurred in ways unique to each school's state and local context, we could discern general patterns from the field sample. Broadly speaking, either (1) one or several individual leaders, or (2) a coalition of stakeholders founded charter schools. For three-quarters of the 42 field sites, one or two leading individuals provided the impetus and drive to write the charter proposal, reach out to and persuade teachers, parents, and community groups to support the charter school, and worked to obtain official charter approval. A school principal or administrator started the school in half of these cases, and a few active parents or teachers founded most of the others. In the three remaining cases, community members other than parents--namely, a business leader, a group of education reformers, and a nonprofit foundation--initiated and led the founding effort. When an administrator or several administrators provided the impetus, the schools were most likely to have been pre-existing schools. When several parents or teachers were the driving force behind charters, the charters were most likely to have been newly created schools.

By contrast, in the other one-quarter of the field cases, a broad coalition of stakeholders worked from the outset to develop and receive approval for a charter. These coalitions invariably included parents, teachers, and school administrators but also encompassed such other stakeholder groups as district superintendents and staff, teachers' unions, members of the business community, post-secondary institutions, advocacy groups, and other organized or ad hoc community groups. In our field sites, all charter schools led by a broad coalition of stakeholders were newly created schools.
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[IV. Why Charter Schools Are Started and What Barriers They Encounter] [Table of Contents] [Why Charter Schools Are Founded]