An Early Look at Charter Schools in California. SRL Occasional Paper.

In 1993, California became the second state to permit the creation of charter schools--innovative public schools operated by groups of parents, teachers, and community members under a contract or charter with a local school board. This paper provides an initial examination of the state's first charter schools based on research on organizational innovation; information visits with charter petitioners; interviews with state legislators, the state department of education, and educational interest groups; and an analysis of the charters of the first 10 charter schools. The first section of the paper reviews research on organizational innovation to provide a base for examining the state's charter schools. Next, the paper discusses how charter schools could extend reforms begun under other statewide initiatives, why communities are creating charter schools, and which of the traditional roles played by school boards and the state department of education are challenged by charter schools. The final section of the paper discusses emerging issues related to charter schools, including the degree to which they can be innovative and operate as schools of choice with academically low-achieving students. The paper closes with an overview of the Southwest Regional Laboratory's future research on charter schools. (Contains 59 references.) (Author/JPT)