This book begins with the claims of policymakers and explores charter schools at each stage of the policymaking process, from legislation to implementation. Powers carefully and thoroughly examines how features of schools' policy contexts shape the ways that charter school reform unfolds at schools, providing a nuanced portrait of the schools participating in this much discussed and little understood reform movement. While policymakers are often prone to making sweeping claims about the efficacy of charter schools, in practice charter school reform is much more complex. By drawing on an extensive and compelling range of data, Powers assesses the validity of policymakers claims.

Autorentext
Jeanne M. Powers is Assistant Professor in the Division of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Arizona State University.

Inhalt
Charter Schools in the Reform Imagination The Landscape of Charter School Reform State Level Policy Dynamics  Policy Implementation at the School Level  Policy Dynamics Part I:  Policy Contexts, School Foundings, and School Conflict  Policy Dynamics Part II: Schools and Shifts in Accountability Policies Looking Nationally at Policy Talk Versus Policy Implementation