| Linda Renzulli
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
In the tradition of local control: Charter school initiatives in the US
FINAL REPORT:
In my dissertation, I study charter school formation at the legislative and local level. I analyze charter schools as a new organizational form that arises from the interaction among the social-structural characteristics of local and state environments, institutional norms, and diffusion mechanisms. Specifically, I use an evolutionary approach to understand where, why, and under what circumstances charter schools emerge.
I begin my research with a study of the diffusion of legislation across the United States. This analysis provides information on the context in which people at the local level can initiate, develop, and manage charter schools. Interestingly, time is a strong diffusion mechanism and follows and S-shape curve as predicted by diffusion theories. In addition, strong teacher's unions have the ability to impede charter school legislation.
My second set of analyses focuses on the initiation of charter schools at the school district level. I use the Common Core of Data, and Private School Survey, linked to a unique dataset of charter school applications that I collected. Charter school formation is not a random event that diffuses over space; rather district characteristics matter in the process of charter school initiation. I have shown that a complex set of characteristics in the existing schools such as large bureaucratic structures, large classrooms, and large schools is crucial to the development of charter schools.
In the aggregate, charter schools are initiated in urban districts, but whom they are serving within those districts is still unclear. Before we decide that the charter school form is not a viable means of educating or that every district should embrace the innovation, more research is needed on how charter schools affect students within the context of their districts. If charter schools are serving the underserved better than traditional schools do, then maybe the form is viable. On the other hand, charter schools operating in already successful districts may be segregating students by race and class and recreating a system that is separate but not equal.
Given that children, their opportunities, and their futures are in part determined by their education, educational reform should not be taken lightly. Therefore, I suggest that two important pieces of information about charter schools should be accessible to the public, teachers, and potential adopters. First, every parent, student, and teacher should be notified of open charter schools in their district. If charter schools located in "needy" districts are to be an important reform for schooling, they can only be so if all students have access to them. If charter school founders and districts are required to provide information to parents in their catchment areas, then there may be a greater chance of equal usage of charter schools in districts that need them.
Second, if corporations and family foundations differentially support some charter schools, then charter schools will have explicit inequalities built into them. Poorer founders will have a harder time finding resources for their schools and may be more likely to fail than more prosperous charter schools. I suggest that more research needs to be done to evaluate the process by which charter schools find financial resources for their schools and on the policy implemented to ensure equal funding for all charter schools.
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