ERIC Number: ED559807
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Aug
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
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Available Date: N/A
The Best of Both Worlds: Can District-Charter Co-Location Be a Win-Win?
DeArmond, Michael; Nelson, Elizabeth Cooley; Bruns, Angela
Center on Reinventing Public Education
District schools and charter schools are often at odds. When the two school types share a school building--arrangements known as "co-locations"--the tensions can boil over. But what happens when district and charter leaders approach co-location as a tool to promote school improvement, rather than simply a real estate deal? Based on fieldwork in four improvement-focused co-locations, this report shows that sharing space across sectors doesn't have to result in a pitched battle, but that leveraging co-location for school improvement is not easy. Even with strong district and charter leadership, teachers can struggle to understand the goals of improvement-focused co-locations. Cross-pollination around school culture can be a productive starting point for collaboration, but collaboration on instruction is much harder to achieve. With considerable effort and resources, district and charter schools can peacefully coexist, but using co-location for school improvement is a daunting task whose full costs and benefits are, to date, still uncertain.
Descriptors: School Districts, Charter Schools, School Location, Educational Improvement, Shared Resources and Services, Observation, Interviews, Content Analysis, Leadership Effectiveness, School Culture, Educational Cooperation, Partnerships in Education, Educational Change, Change Strategies, Elementary Secondary Education, Educational Practices
Center on Reinventing Public Education. University of Washington Bothell Box 358200, Seattle, WA 98195. Tel: 206-685-2214; Fax: 206-221-7402; e-mail: crpe@u.washington.edu; Web site: http://www.crpe.org
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Authoring Institution: Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE)
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