Common Core: Will Charters Lead or Lag?

• In Event: Implementing the Common Core: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Objective

This paper sets out to answer several key questions regarding the relationship between charter schools and the Common Core. It examines the ongoing tension between the largely decentralized charter school movement and national and state movements toward centralized standards and accountability systems . These questions include: Will Common Core implementation have any effect on the freedoms with which charter schools operate? Will the sector leaders see it as a threat or an opportunity? Are charter schools sufficiently informed about Common Core? And, do they have sufficient resources to provide teachers with the necessary professional development to adjust their instruction?

Theoretical Framework

This paper is founded in attitudinal research. It relies on interviews with practitioners to understand their opinions toward policy changes.

Mode of Inquiry

This paper uses responses of practitioners to inform conclusions regarding the Common Core standards initiative.

Data Source
12 interviews with leaders of major Charter Management Organizations, charter school association leaders, technical assistance providers and charter school principals as well as a survey distributed to 19 charter support organizations.

Results

Charter leaders’ views and approaches concerning the Common Core are as diverse as the sector itself. In general, those we interviewed are enthusiastic that Common Core State Standards will, in themselves, set a more rigorous and meaningful set of expectations for the skills students are expected to have upon graduation than most current state standards. Especially among proponents of blended learning and technology-based instruction, prominent school and association leaders believe that CCSS will allow innovative ideas to expand more quickly across states. Many leaders of well-known high performing charter management organizations praise the increased rigor of the standards, are enthusiastic about the opportunity to easily compare student test scores and materials across states, and do not worry that the Common Core will infringe on their schools’ autonomies. In theory, charters will be in the same place that they are now: operating freely, while being held to government standards. The shift from state to federal standards, they say, should not have a discernible impact on charter school autonomy.
On the other hand, some in the charter sector have significant concerns that the rollout of Common Core will be watered down or underfunded by states. Some even contend that states and districts will slowly begin to erode charter school autonomy through new curricular or staff development requirements associated with the Common Core. If policymakers water down the standards or lower cut scores on tests, the Common Core will only be a dressed up version of a standards movement that we have already experienced. Others fear that the increasing universality of standards portends a move towards centralization that will ultimately impinge on the school-level decision making that charter leaders hold sacred and would all but defeat the purpose of charter schools.

Scholarly Significance

To date, there has been little to no scholarly research on the relationship between Charter Schools and the Common Core standards. This would be an addition to that body of knowledge.

Authors

• Robin Lake, Center on Reinventing Public Education - University of Washington

• Tricia Maas, University of Washington