Quality for All: The Rise of Independent Authorizing and the Two Promises of the Charter School Movement
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2014
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Abstract
In 2013, the number of charter schools in the United States topped 6,000, with enrollment exceeding more than 2.3 million students. Charters, which are privately run but publicly funded schools of choice, were founded with a dual promise. The first was that they themselves would become high-quality school options for students. By trading autonomy for accountability, charters are free from many regulations that govern traditional schools. Accountability was originally intended to come from self-regulation and market forces, where families would naturally choose better charters over failing ones. The second promise was that charters, spurring a marketplace of quality educational options, would also motivate improvement in and share best practices with traditional schools. Today, both promises are unmet. Too many low-quality charters have endured the test of time while charter advocates and traditionalists (defenders of traditional districts) are locked in constant conflict with one another rather than communicating and cooperating to help both sectors improve. Therefore, advocates are focusing on the first promise of strengthening accountability. They seek to do so by strengthening charter authorizers, the governing structures that approve, renew, close, and oversee charters. This shift away from market-based accountability mechanisms is also a turn away from local school boards, the original authorizers. Advocates contend that "independent" authorizing structures, away from school districts, have the stronger desire, political insulation, and resources to authorize effectively and design structures that will hold schools accountable. In short, advocates believe that quality independent authorizing will equal quality charter schools. Though this focus on independent authorizing can allow charters to reach the first promise of a high-quality sector, the second promise of co-existence between charters and districts may become even more challenging to reach with independent authorizing structures, which move power away from the local level and may further strain district-charter tensions at an even greater level than they already have been today. In my thesis, through case studies from Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Atlanta, I explore whether there are structures and practices of educational governance that can enable a high-quality charter sector and create an environment where both traditional and charter schools can co-exist and thrive together. In other words, can a system be fostered where these two promises of the charter movement are finally met?