CHARTER SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED-STATES - THE QUESTION OF AUTONOMY

By the end of 1994, 11 states had passed legislation authorizing chart er schools Following the argument that charter schools need to be auto nomous self-governing organizations to enhance their potential for hig h performance, this study explores legislative conditions that promote charter school autonomy. The study applies a conceptual framework of autonomy to assess variations among state charter school policies. The results suggest that stare policies offer different levels of autonom y and thus charter schools will vary in their ability to innovate and in their potential for high performance Differences in autonomy across charter school laws appear to be related to state political cultures and to the state's history of decentralization reform.