Life Cycles and Charter Schools: Application to Charter School Leadership

Charter schools can be different animals. They are large and small. They cover different grades: K-6, K-8, K-12, 6-8, 9-12 and a couple of other combinations. They vary from direct instruction to exploratory learning. They are urban and suburban. Some specialize and other are broad. Some provide college prep and some offer remedial courses. Some charter schools are started by parents or community groups. Others are started by Education Management Organizations.

Whatever the type, size or method in a charter school, all go through lifecycles. As Peter Hilts and I have outlined these in the past, the cycles are Planning, Opening, Growth, Stability, Stagnation, Decline, and then either Closure or Renewal. It is probably obvious that most schools want to take the path to renewal.

The problem is that this cycle isn’t always easily identified by charter school leaders. Moreover, most charter schools spend so much time in the Planning and Opening phases that it’s tough to move through the other phases smoothly. The frantic pace of starting a school often means that different functions of a school mature more quickly than others.

Even with all of the frantic pace and confusion, charter schools need to be aware of the dysfunction that will occur if they do not recognize some of the subtle changes that happen between Opening and Growth.

Everyone knows the Planning phase. Especially if it is a small community group, three or four people do everything. They apply for grants, organize finances, pay bills—everything. They start recruiting students. They do all of the marketing. They do all of the hiring. Often these founders are working outside of their areas of expertise.

Then after two years of frantic work by this small group, the opening day comes. Nothing happens as planned so you make due. People fill in where needed. Forgotten supplies are ignored as best as possible. Then the board meeting comes, and no one ever thought to order a matching set of adult sized chairs. Tables are arranged in some semblance of order. At this point, leadership is both a huge challenge, and yet simple—get things done.

The first year or two may look like this. Hiring may be done based on who knows the founders. Employees may not be completely capable of doing their jobs. Sometimes schools have issues with compliance. Sometimes they just are inefficient. Everything gets done at the last minute. Everyone needs to be trained, especially if the school has its own teaching methods or has hired inexperienced teachers.

However, this can’t go on forever. Everyone knows it. Soon the school, while still growing, begins to have some semblance of order. The leader has to slow down and begin to look at the future, evaluate personnel. All sorts of things begin to happen organically that cause a reflective leader and board to ask themselves: What is next? Or Do we still have the right leader?

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This was originally written for:

www.examiner.com