Independent Charter Schools: Evolution and Status in the Charter School Landscape

• In Event: The Walmartization of Charter Schools: A Road to Failure or the Salvation of Public Education

Abstract

Ray Budde is credited with coining the term "charter" in 1988 when he suggested that small groups of teachers be given contracts or "charters" by their local school boards to explore new approaches to instruction and school governance (Budde, 1988; Kahlenberg, 2008; Kolderie, 2005). This chartering strategy was to have been bottom up, empowering those closest to the students to take charge of schools. Today many charter schools have been Walmart-izied by the creation of networks of non profit and for profit EMOs and CMOs.

It is difficult to examine the impact of the small, locally operated innovative schools envisioned by Budde and Shanker in part because there is no agreed upon definition to differentiate these independent charter schools from multi-campus EMO and CMO operations. As a starting point, we find Molnar, Garcia and O’Neill (2006) asserting that “an EMO is for-profit, manages at least one school that receives public funds, and operates the public school(s) it manages under the same admissions rules as regular public schools” (p. 154). By 2010, Molnar, Miron and Urschel had expanded the definition of EMO to include any nonprofit or for profit organization or firm that manages a charter school. If a “Charter Management Organization is a non-profit organization that creates a group of schools with a shared educational vision and mission” (Smith, Farrell, Wohlstetter & Nayfack, ND, p. 1), how should independent charter schools be defined?

The purpose of this study is to define independent, stand alone charter schools, identify top performing charter schools which fall within this independent definition, compare these schools to top performing EMO/CMO schools and provide implications for educational researchers and policy makers. We build on the work of Center on Educational Governance (2011), the Arizona Charter School Association (Gau & Gemelli, 2006), Newsweek best high schools (2011) and the newly established Network of Independent Charter Schools (NICS). We will create an academic performance database of top performing charter schools with a goal of distinguishing between independent charters and EMO/CMO charters. Once the schools are identified, we will collect public descriptions of the schools and conduct in-depth interviews with appropriate representatives from 10 independent and 10 EMO/CMO schools. Qualitative and quantitative analysis will lead to conclusions that will enable educators and policy makers to make best practice decisions to guide the future.

At the national level, there is a push to scale-up successful charter schools and create larger networks and systems to achieve economies of scale. If we are to support and encourage scaling up in the face of the original small, independent concepts associated with the original concept, we need to understand the impact made by independently run charter schools, CMOs and EMOs on student achievement and school governance. Fine grained studies of top performing schools by external, unbiased researchers who care most about discovering the truth, not simply supporting a philosophy or ideology are needed. The future of charter schools may depend on the decisions we make today.

Authors

• Heather Nakakura, West Hawaii Explorations Academy PCS

• Nina K. Buchanan, University of Hawaii - Hilo