Equity Through Authorizing? Charter Authorizing and Meeting the Needs of Historically Underserved Students

• In Event: Equity, Race, and Access Within the School Choice Landscape: The Next Wave of Research

Abstract

Objectives
Charter school authorizers (CSAs) are regulatory bodies that approve new charter schools and regulate existing charter schools. While many students attending charter schools are from underserved student populations, we know very little about how CSAs practices shape how charter school operators attend to the needs of these populations. This paper focuses on the first critical role of CSAs - developing processes for potential charter operators (applicants) to apply for a contract. We ask: how do CSAs view their role in shaping the applications they receive? How are CSA-specific goals around equitable access for underserved students communicated to applicants? How is alignment with these authorizer goals signaled by applicants in their applications?

Literature and Theoretical Framework
Studies on authorizing practices and equity have been limited despite an extensive literature on charter schools, including that CSAs can take very different approaches to their work. Eckes (2010) found that some state laws require charters to maintain or promote racial and ethnic diversity. Two small-scale studies found that less than half of CSAs actively seek applications that address the needs of ELL students and/or focus on student diversity (Eckes & Plucker, 2013; Garcia & Morales, 2016).

Part of the rationale behind charter schools rests on market logic. Principal-agent theory, rooted in that logic, emphasizes the challenges in aligning the interests of “principals” (task-setters) and “agents” (task-completers) (Gailmard 2014; Loeb & McEwan 2006). Our paper focuses on how CSAs, as the principal, signal goals to the agent (applicants), and how applicants signal goal alignment in their application.

Data Sources and Methods
We utilized three distinct types of data: interviews with five CSAs in four states (Michigan, Colorado, Massachusetts, and Arizona), documents used by CSAs during the application process, and applications submitted to CSAs. This chosen sample maximizes differences in authorizing approach and state charter policy. We coded 45 applications across the authorizers in NVivo, reviewed interview transcripts and other materials used by CSAs, and ultimately created matrices to locate signals sent by CSAs and applicants related to educating underserved students.

Findings
We found large variation between CSAs in how they signal the urgency to address the needs of underserved populations. For market-oriented CSAs, the application process was mainly about organizational viability and general program quality. Other CSAs were “mission-oriented” and asked detailed questions about serving disadvantaged student populations as well as practices that can impact equitable access. Overall, applicants were responsive to the signals given by CSAs, and approval is a result of substantial alignment with CSA goals.

Significance
Our study contributes to understanding how the available charter schools in a particular market are partially a result of a CSA’s orientation towards authorizing and communicating of their goals to applicants and of applicants seeking to demonstrate alignment with these goals.

Authors

• Katrina E. Bulkley, Montclair State University

• Kate Marilu Meza Fernandez, Montclair State University

• Alica Gerry

• Amanda Lu, Stanford University