 Though most public school principals believe that effective
leadership of their schools requires authority over personnel
decisions (e.g., staff selection, deployment, dismissal), they
report having little such authority in practice. Based on a
series of interviews with a small sample of district and
charter-school principals, the report shows that most district
principals encounter a sizable gap between the extent and kinds
of authority that leaders need to be effective and the authority
that they actually have. Belatedly, policymakers and researchers
are recognizing that quality charter schools depend on quality
charter school authorizing. This report presents findings from a
pioneering national examination of the organizations that
sponsor, oversee, and hold accountable U.S. charter schools. Its
primary aim is to describe and characterize these crucial but
little-known organizations. American middle schools have become
the places "where academic achievement goes to die." So says
Cheri Yecke, K-12 Educatio