Charter School Autonomy: Realities, Practices, and Barriers

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 11:40 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating Institutional Logics and Autonomy in Charter Schools: Governance, Policy, and Outcomes (Table 5)

Abstract

The basic tradeoff behind charter schools is that, compared with traditional public schools, they are afforded additional autonomy in exchange for additional accountability. Most of the literature on charter school autonomy is from the 1990s and early 2000s. Since then, the number of states authorizing charter schools has increased, the number of charters has tripled, and a different federal accountability regime exists. This study sought to update the literature on charter school autonomy. We interviewed charter school leaders (n=38) to gain their perspectives. Findings suggest that school leaders are using their autonomy to create schools that would not otherwise exist in their local traditional school districts, though relationships with authorizers and teachers unions can sometimes present barriers to autonomy.

Authors

• David T. Marshall, Auburn University

• Natalie Neugebauer Schoettler, Auburn University