This document discusses the history and evolution of charter schools over the past 25 years. It begins by reviewing the ideals of public education and the 1983 report "A Nation at Risk" which called for educational reform. It then discusses how some responded through reforms while others called for more dramatic changes like redesigning the educational system. The idea behind chartering was to withdraw exclusive franchises given to school districts and create new publicly funded schools with more flexibility and accountability. Over 25 years, charter schools have helped change the paradigm from an era of assignment to choice and empowered educators and families. The document reflects on lessons learned and the ongoing challenges of changing entrenched systems and paradigms.

1. Ember Reichgott Junge
James N. Goenner, Ph.D.
Looking Back to Lead Forward
25 Years of Chartering

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3. Goals for Today
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4. The Ideals of Public Education
• All children should have access to a quality
education regardless of family income.
• All children should be prepared for happy and
productive lives.
• All children should be taught the rights and duties
of citizenship.
• Good schools help foster strong and cohesive
communities.
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5. A Nation at Risk:
The Imperative for Educational Reform
“The educational foundations of our
society are presently being eroded by a
rising tide of mediocrity that threatens
our very future as a Nation and as a
people.”
April 26, 1983
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6. How Did People Respond?
• Some ignored it. Some condemned it. Others embraced
it and initiated reforms.
• Reforms included:
ü Demonstration projects to spread best practices
ü Restructuring and retooling
ü Mandates and regulation
ü Threats and exhortation
ü More $$$$$$$
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7. What are the Lessons to be Learned?
1. The pace of change in education is very slow.
2. The educational crisis threatening our children and
our country has not been enough to cause dramatic
improvements.
3. Having a vision for educational excellence is not
enough.
4. Don’t put all your reform efforts into one basket.
5. If student performance is going to significantly
improve, the educational system has to be
redesigned.
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8. Who Has the Authority
to Redesign the Educational System
in Your State?
The Governor and the Legislature

11. The exclusive franchise guarantees
the district will always receive:
“This is a system that can take its
customers for granted.”
Albert Shanker, American Federation of Teachers
Thereby providing adults with their:
Students and Funding
Jobs and Incomes
The Idea Behind Chartering…
What’s the Problem with the System?
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12. “It’s unproductive and unfair to put people under
incentives that are not aligned with the mission they
have been given to perform. That leads to blaming the
people for failures that are the fault of the system…
We should stop blaming people. We should fix the
system.”
Ted Kolderie
The States Will Have to Withdraw the Exclusive
The Idea Behind Chartering…
What’s the Problem with the System?
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13. The Idea Behind Chartering…
What’s the Problem with the System?
People need compelling reasons and
opportunities to take on the challenges
associated with fundamental change.
When people decide to change because it’s
in their own interest, it’s more likely to be
meaningful and lasting.
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14. The Idea Behind Chartering
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States should…
1. Withdraw the exclusive geographic franchises given to school districts.
2. Create ways to establish new public schools that create competition for
existing schools and empower parents with choice.
These new public schools should…
1. Be authorized by an entity that oversees and holds them accountable,
but unlike a school district does not own or operate the school.
2. Be freed from unnecessary rules and regulations, in exchange for
producing results.
3. Be dually accountable: to the marketplace of parental choice and to the
standards of the public interest.

15. CHARTER SCHOOLS
A strategy to improve public
education and change its paradigm
by enabling the dynamics of
choice and innovation.

16. What are the Lessons to be Learned?
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17. Lessons
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• Front-Load: Complexity Is Deceiving
• Start With the End in Mind
• One Size Does Not Fit All
• Opportunity to Align Goals, Standards, Assessment and Evaluation
• Results Matter
• Challenge of Rapid Growth
• Closing a School Is the Ultimate Test
• Surgical Strikes Are Better than Nuclear Bombs
• America Is the Real Experiment
“When I go slow, I go fast.”
— Chinese Proverb
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18. Paradigms Don’t Change Without Challenge
• Political
• Media
• Legal
• Regulatory
• Operational
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19. Changing the Paradigm
In Theory, Law, Policy, and Practice
v From an “era of assignment” to an “era of choice”
ü Removed the district’s exclusive franchise
ü Funded students, not schools
ü Created schools without boundaries
ü Made schools dually accountability
ü Empowered educators and families
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20. The Evolution of
American
Industry
1776–TODAY
Dramatic change in every
major industry imaginable …
with the exception of schools.
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21. It’s Hard to Translate Ideas into Action
Policymakers often become frustrated with the complexity
of translating ideas into legislation, and legislation into
action.
• Cohen (1982): “Intentions are an inconsistent
guide to results.”
• Elmore (1980): “The implementation problem” and
the need for “foresight – reasoning through
implementation problems before policy decisions
are firmly made.”
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22. “Instead of rewarding failure, we only
reward success. Instead of funding the
status quo, we only invest in reform —
reform that raises student achievement;
inspires students to excel in math and
science; and turns around failing schools
that steal the future of too many young
Americans, from rural communities to the
inner city. In the 21st century, the best anti-
poverty program around is a world-class
education. And in this country, the success
of our children cannot depend more on
where they live than on their potential.”
— President Barack Obama
State of the Union Address 1/27/2010
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23. ““ “Great spirits have
always encountered
violent opposition from
mediocre minds.”
Albert Einstein

24. “Public schools are the
backbone of this country, . . . and
as long as I am superintendent,
charter schools will not be welcome
in Detroit.”
Detroit Superintendent Connie Calloway, Ph.D.,
as reported by the Detroit Federation of Teachers,
June 11, 2007
““

25. Lack of Public Understanding
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• In a Gallup survey:
• 39% believed charter schools are public schools
• 50% believed charter schools were allowed to teach religion
• 60% believed charter schools can charge tuition
• 58% believed charter schools can select students based on their abilities
• Researcher Rick Hess wrote:
“Fifteen years [into the charter movement], what most Americans ‘know’ about
charters is factually incorrect. It’s not just that people are unsure or randomly
incorrect—it’s that they are systematically incorrect in ways that paint charters
in the worst possible light.”
• These numbers are not an accident. Even in states where charter schools excel,
the public thinks they excel because they’re private schools taking away money.
Is it any wonder, then, that elected officials are able to impose caps, bar access
to facilities and deny charter schools equal funding?

27. Reforming
Education
Student
Learning
Divergent Roads
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29. “ Charter schools are here.
That's yesterday's argument.
We're having the wrong
discussion. We need to have
a larger discussion about
education. I'm open to good
education for all kids.”
— Heaster Wheeler,
Executive Director of the Detroit Branch
NAACP
(as quoted in the Detroit Free Press, September 11, 2009)
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31. “It is not enough
that we do our
best; sometimes
we have to do
what’s required.”
— Winston Churchill
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32. Gallup, 2014
Of 12 professions,
Teachers least likely to agree:
“My opinion seems to matter at work.”
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34. High-Performing Organizations
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• Accept Owners
• Motivate
• Innovate
• Assess
Performance
• Share Purpose
• Avoid Insularity
• Collaborate
• Function as
Learners
• Lead Effectively
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35. Support for Teacher-Powered Schools
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36. 21st Century Learning
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Innovation: Personalized Learning
+
Autonomy: Teacher-Powered Schools
=
Results

37. “The call and need of a
new era is for
greatness. It’s for
fulfillment, passionate
execution and
significant contribution.”
— Dr. Stephen Covey, The 8th Habit
Changing the Paradigm:

38. “Find your voice and inspire
others to find theirs.”
-Dr. Stephen Covey
The 8th Habit
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40. “If you do not change, you can
become extinct.”
Who Moved My Cheese?
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42. THANK
YOU!
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