High Quality Charter Schools at Scale in Big Cities: Results of a Symposium
National Charter School Research Project
University of Washington
James Harvey and Lydia Rainey
June 2006

Abstract:

This report is the result of a symposium that dealt with the challenges facing the development and expansion of the charter school movement in the United States. The discussion concluded that the number of high-quality charter schools today meets no one’s definition of scale. It also suggested that charter schools are in the midst of a gradual evolution, one that has moved from a belief that proven models would be scaled up rapidly to a more sober view that providers must look for growth opportunities where they can find them and carefully pursue quality. Finally, the discussion turned to the coordinated support infrastructure that would allow continued growth in the numbers of quality charter schools.