Charter schools have grown in the past 25 years from a ragtag insurgency into a serious force in American K–12 education. This report examines how districts work with the charters in their midst—in Boston, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, and Washington, D.C.—through three questions: How are districts engaging charters? Why do districts choose to engage charters? And has engagement resulted in improvement? Engagement presents potential benefits and risks—for charters, districts, and the public. This study found markedly different forms of engagement reminiscent of international relations. From Washington’s “superpower summit” through Boston’s “protectionism under pressure,” the shifting district-charter interplay highlighted in this report may begin to point the way to a new world order in public education.
Public Impact
