The New Charter Movement: Unifying Educators Around Best Practices by Creating District–Charter School Partnerships

• In Event: 66.057 - The Importance of Place and Geographic Relationships: Spatial Elements That Affect Charters and School Choice

Abstract

This study examines a shift in the charter movement that demonstrates teachers’ and administrators’ abilities to build social network across the highly contentious charter/traditional public school divide. We look at the data from a 2-year long intervention project - part of the New York State Department of Education Dissemination Grant in which a high performing New York State Charter School partnered with a public district school that has underperformed and has been classified as “priority” by standards of the NYS Department of Education. Two major research questions drive this study 1) How do cross-school social networks shape educators’ work? 2) In what way does collaboration across schools disrupt pre-existing tension between charter schools and traditional schools?

Authors

• Lynette Parker, Reach Institute for School Leadership

• Charlene Reid, University of Pennsylvania