0.3 Allen, a., & Gawlik, m. (july 2009). preparing district and  (Page 2/10)

1. What are the special needs and skills of charter school leaders and how do these needs dictate differences in training?
2. What is the mission of public education? How does this mission translate across public district and charter schools?
3. How can a new paradigm of public school leadership co-exist with a traditional mission? How can a systems approach contribute to a more synergetic relationship between district and charter schools?

How educational leadership programs are designed is an important consideration in how public education is perceived and perpetuated. Despite the structure or form a public school leadership position takes, there remains a common core of values for public schooling that applies to all public school leadership positions. The challenge as we see it is how do educators design educational leadership preparation programs that meet the nuances of different types of leadership positions while maintaining a focus on this core set of values. First, we must consider what this set of values is and how well it translates across school types.

The mission of public schooling

From the time of Horace Mann, public schooling was conceptualized as a common good, meant to bring students together around core values related to citizenship, democratic participation, discussion of differences, and the development of social cohesion that would lead to a well-functioning, democratic citizenry. A free education for all students, with a focus on the common good values of social cohesion, deliberation, and participation in democratic society remains a foundational goal of public education in district schools today. A report from the Center on Educational Policy identifies six common goals of public education in America (Kober, 2007, p. 7). They are:

1. To provide universal access to free education
2. To guarantee equal opportunities for all children
3. To unify a diverse population
4. To prepare people for citizenship in a democratic society
5. To prepare people to become economically self-sufficient
6. To improve social conditions

Charter schooling: a systems perspective

Charter schools represent an innovation in education aimed at meeting the needs of individual students and breaking down bureaucratic barriers (Chubb&Moe, 1990; Mintrom, 1997; Wells, Grutzik, Carnochan, Slayton&Vasudeva, 1999). Such innovation, which attempts to create a new model of education, also represents a paradigm shift from a century-old model of citizen-run compensatory district schools to autonomous, independent schools that serve students who choose to enroll. Kuhn (1966) suggests that we can expect a new paradigm to do one of two things: wither from a lack of support or a lack of conversions from the old system to the new, or live side by side with the old paradigm until enough support for the new paradigm develops and then eventually eliminates the old. If successful, the new paradigm establishes a new set of assumptions by which the professional community operates. After nearly 20 years since the first charter school law was passed in Minneapolis in 1991, charter schools have neither died nor eliminated the traditional public school districts. We gather from this that the old assumptions that underlie the traditional mission of public schooling are still relevant, and that the kind of educational choice charters promise is a compelling assumption that has been widely accepted. In other words the charter school movement has neither died nor taken over the traditional system of schooling because there is both a need for choice within the public education system and a need to ensure a place for all students. Although charter schools were designed to compete with the traditional school model, we believe the potential of charter schools lies not in a “revolution” of schooling but as an option within the system of public education.