Leading charters

Abstract

Charter schools have been studied from numerous perspectives. One topic that remains under-researched, however, is charter school leadership. Therefore, we examine how charter administrators define their leadership roles and their ability to lead. Results indicate that charter principals see three primary functions in their leadership—building and moving the internal school community in a common direction, managing staff, and school safety. Charter school principals expressed general confidence in their ability to lead in these areas but less confidence in leading in the areas of math and literacy. Charter leaders spend more time conducting meetings and handling parent issues and less time on hiring staff and fundraising. Finally, time differential statistics revealed that, although principals recognize the value of instructional leadership, less time than desired is spent on this area. Implications from the research indicate that charter boards and aspiring leaders should pay attention to alignment between how each defines leadership and what each party expects of the role.