Opinion
Education Letter to the Editor

Administrative Training Helps Charters Succeed

September 22, 2004 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

Another consideration in the national debate on charter schools (“AFT Charter School Study Sparks Heated National Debate,” Sept. 1, 2004) should be the need to focus on the administrative training of those in charge of these schools.

I recently worked for a charter school at which both the executive director and the school director had no formal training in school administration. While both maintained visions of a particular school mission, their never having been responsible for overseeing the many facets of running a school affected staff morale, student behavior and academic performance, and parental expectations.

This lack of knowledge about how schools are run led to inconsistency in following policy and to problems with follow-through in state reporting, including inaccuracies and missed deadlines. A kind of nepotism in which different rules were in effect for staff members who were family also had a negative effect on overall school performance.

While charter schools offer an innovative approach to education, careful consideration should be given to how a lack of administrative training, experience, and ability affects the charter school “experiment.” It’s true that starting a new school is a challenge and that working through the initial start-up problems is no easy task, but administrative ability may have more to do with a school’s success than other factors.

Kelly L. Chase

Fitchburg, Mass.

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Quiz What Lowers Teacher Turnover? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Quiz Which State Is About to Pass a ‘Science of Reading’ Law? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Quiz What is a Project 2025 Author Doing at the Education Department? Take This Weekly Quiz
Test your knowledge on the latest news and trends in education.
1 min read
Education Briefly Stated: June 11, 2025
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
5 min read