National Charter School Research Project

Charter schools and other publicly funded schools of choice need just the right kind of public oversight: enough to ensure that they provide good instruction, but not so much as to quash innovation or discourage competent groups from offering to run schools.

What is required for performance-based oversight of publicly funded schools run under different auspices? How can school districts oversee public schools in multiple ways?

This initiative identified practices that school districts can use to run some schools directly and to sponsor some schools of choice under charter school laws or performance contracts. Researchers try to show districts how they can oversee schools in different ways—by running them directly, by chartering, by contracting or licensing—while insisting on the same performance standards for all.