Narrowing the gap: Three key dimensions of site-based leadership in four Boston charter public schools

The academic achievement gap that separates White students from Black, and low-income from higher-income students, has persisted for over forty years in the United States. Education reform at the state and federal level in an effort to narrow the achievement gap includes the creation of charter public schools. In Massachusetts, charter public school legislation was created with the intention of empowering school founders and leaders to create school environments that would be transformative for all students, regardless of race or socio-economic background. The promise of the charter public school model offers flexibility and autonomy for leaders to enable them to experiment and innovate when running their school. While Massachusetts charter public schools, like charter public schools nationwide, have had mixed success, some charter public school students have outperformed students of their sending district and the state. This study examined four Boston charter public high schools with predominantly Black and Hispanic, low-income populations that have shown progress narrowing the achievement gap. In-depth semi-structured interviews explored how the four charter public school leaders describe their leadership and school's success to improve student outcomes compared to the sending district and the state during the 2006-2007 academic school year. Field observations, and semi-structured informal interviews with students and teachers were also conducted in addition to document review of the Massachusetts Department of Education's evaluations and annual reports.;The findings of this study suggest that leadership is instrumental to creating and maintaining each charter public school. Many common characteristics emerge among all four schools, however, the distinctiveness and success of each school is the result of leadership's ability to orchestrate the characteristics and decisions that culminate to create each educational community. The leaders at all four schools acknowledge three key dimensions essential to their school's success: (a) high expectations for student outcome as measured by college completion; (b) safe and orderly learning environment; (c) and an all-school adherence to leadership's vision and the school's mission. The leaders understand and implement them differently, depending on their school mission and values and the leader's particular vision, experience, and personality. As a result, the organizational cultures at each school differ. The four leaders of this study had the autonomy to align these dimensions in particular ways that reflect each unique organizational culture which can help us more clearly understand their success.;Charter public schools have the most autonomy of any public schools in the state to choose their curriculum, programming, scheduling, calendar, and staffing. Each charter leader in this study specifically cited qualities such as flexibility and autonomy to hire and fire staff, set budget priorities, set academic goals, and create school culture as important aspects of their leadership. It seems that a significant amount (if not most) of what they were able to accomplish in the running of their schools would not be possible without the autonomy of charter status.