Evolving charter school governance in a complex accountability environment

According to the Center for Education Reform, as of September 2008 charter schools enrolled more than 1.2 million students in 40 states and the District of Columbia. With charter schooling a remedial option for consistently failing schools under No Child Left Behind, and with charter schools forming a critical component of post-Katrina public education in New Orleans, charter schools are increasingly receiving attention as a key component of public education reform. The structure of charter school systems places charter school boards at the heart of the accountability dynamic. Yet, there has been minimal research conducted on charter school governance to date. This study analyzes charter school governance and the governance systems of other, similar institutions, including local school boards, independent schools, and other nonprofit organizations. A theoretical framework drawn from existing research on nonprofit governance is applied to charter schools, looking specifically at how governing boards move through evolutionary stages over time as well as the roles assumed by individual members. Research was conducted using a two-pronged, mixed-method approach. The first prong consisted of a questionnaire designed to elicit basic facts about charter school boards. The second prong consisted of six case studies of charter schools and was designed to delve more deeply into the workings of charter school boards and to generate hypotheses and further questions about how there boards act and interact. The study found that charter school boards were similar, in form and function, to other types of boards. Key findings include that charter school boards appear to evolve in a manner similar to other governing bodies, that schools' unique histories and cultures play a crucial role in the evolution of governance, that founders continue to play a strong role at all leadership levels, that charter schools struggle to balance an array of accountability pressures, and that there is no common model for charter school governance and little consistency in training methods. In conclusion, the study argues for greater policy clarity around external accountability pressures, including NCLB, and increased methods for sharing knowledge and information around the topic of governance.