Inside Urban Charter Schools

2009 Excellence in Advancing Knowledge, National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA)

Inside Urban Charter Schools offers an unprecedentedly intimate glimpse into the world of charter schools by profiling five high-performing urban charter schools serving predominantly low-income, minority youth in Massachusetts.

Interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations conducted over the course of two years flesh out rich and colorful portraits of daily life in these schools. Using an analytic framework grounded in research on nonprofit management and effective schools, the authors show that these schools excel along the organizational dimensions of structure, systems, human resource strategies, culture, and clarity of mission.

By raising provocative questions for parents, educators, policymakers, and scholars, the book makes a powerful contribution to important conversations about the purpose of K-12 schooling in the twenty-first century and what it will take to enable all schools--whether charter or traditional--to successfully educate all students.
About the Author:

Dr. Katherine K. Merseth, the principal investigator of this study, has over forty years of experience in instruction, administration, and research in public education in the United States and internationally. She taught math in traditional public middle and high schools for ten years, has provided instruction in math pedagogy, and is the director of the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) Teacher Education Program, which she founded in 1984. Merseth holds a master's degree in mathematics from Boston College, and both a master of arts in teaching and a doctorate in education administration, planning, and social policy from HGSE.

Kristy Cooper is a National Board Certified teacher who taught elementary school for six years in traditional public schools. She is an editorial board member of the Harvard Educational Review, holds a master's degree in education from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a master's degree in education policy and management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Cooper is in her fourth year of doctoral studies in education policy, leadership, and instructional practice at HGSE.

John Roberts worked as a teacher in a traditional public high school for four years and as principal of a charter school for three years. He holds a master's degree in administration, planning, and social policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and works as a consultant for a charter school in Lowell, Massachusetts. He is in his third year of the doctoral degree program in education policy, leadership, and instructional practice at HGSE.

Mara Casey Tieken has three years of experience teaching in a traditional public elementary school and one year teaching preschool as a Harris Fellow at the Yale Child Study Center. She is the cochair of the Harvard Educational Review editorial board, holds a master's degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is entering her fourth year as a doctoral student in the culture, communities, and education concentration at HGSE.

Jon Valant has four years of experience working at charter schools, one year as a tutor and afterschool coordinator and three years as a data analyst and curriculum developer. He holds a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Valant currently consults with various charter management organizations and is a first-year doctoral student in administration and policy analysis at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education.

Chris Wynne's teaching experience includes three years in a traditional public middle school and four years in a charter middle and high school. He is an editorial board member of the Harvard Educational Review and holds a master's degree in human development and psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Wynne is currently a fourth-year doctoral student in the education policy, leadership, and instructional practice concentration at HGSE.