Parents Founding Charter Schools

Parents Founding Charter Schools investigates the founding, development, and early operations of two start-up, parent-run charter schools in neighboring urban areas in California. Both schools were among the first 105 charters approved in the state and provide an «up close and personal» view of the early years of charter organizing. The ethnographic case study method allows us to witness the impact of external and internal barriers to decentralization on the lives and relationships of charter parents, teachers, and administrators. Also rendered visible are the connections between internal chaos after the schools are operational and decisions or compromises made by sponsors and charter founders during the early developmental stages of the organizations.