The Progressive Policy Institute has released a report that has positive implications for a new legislative initiative in Florida, called Principal Autonomy, that gives public school principals greater authority over staffing, the curriculum and the budget.
The new report found that district-run autonomous schools in Boston, Denver, Memphis and Los Angeles, may perform better than traditional public schools, “but they seldom perform as well as independent public charters.” The report analyzed 2015 and 2016 standardized test scores from those specific city schools.
The report found that schools in Boston where there was high autonomy students generally performed better than traditional district schools on standardized tests. By contrast, in Los Angeles, the report found none of the city schools have high autonomy and as a result, none appear to perform “anywhere near as well as independent charter schools.”
Overall, the report found public charter schools perform at a higher level academically than district-run autonomous schools because most charter schools are schools of choice. That translates, according to the authors, into independent charter schools that have true autonomy. They are held accountable for student performance and closed or replaced if it lags too far behind grade levels. Most of them go through a careful authorization process, and are more sustainable than in-district autonomous zones.
“When implemented with fidelity, the charter formula – autonomy, choice, diversity of school designs and real accountability – produces continuous improvements in school quality, with impressive student gains in charter schools serving high-minority, high-poverty populations,” the report said.
Furthermore, the report concludes with the recommendation that when it’s not possible to invest in a charter sector, district run-autonomous models are the next best option.
