Giving Compass' Take:

• David Osborne and Emily Langhorne share some of the practices that successful district-run autonomous schools they studied employed. 

• Are district-run autonomous schools the answer to the charter-school question? 

• Learn more about district-run autonomous schools. 

District-run autonomous schools are a hybrid model, a halfway point between charters and traditional public schools. They’re operated by district employees, but they can opt out of many district policies and — in some cities — union contracts.

Districts can increase the success of these schools if they heed these nine lessons learned by the four cities in our study.

  1. Protect unrestricted autonomy: When autonomy is limited, so is principals’ ability to meet students’ needs.
  2. Create a district office or independent board to support and protect autonomous schools: Districts with autonomous schools should create a central unit dedicated to supporting them, defending their autonomy and advocating on their behalf when disputes arise.
  3. Articulate a district-wide theory of action and secure buy-in from central office staff: Autonomous schools necessitate that many parts of the central office do things differently, so employees need to believe in the connection between school autonomy and student success, rather than seeing autonomous schools as an inconvenience and/or a challenge to centralized authority.
  4. Turn some central services into public enterprises that must compete with other providers for schools’ business: When internal service shops have to sink or swim in a competitive market, they almost always swim, because they are much closer to their customers than private competitors are.
  5. Authorize district-run autonomous schools like charter schools: Rigorous authorization has been essential to the success of strong charter sectors.
  6. Ensure continuous improvement by using a clear system of accountability to close and/or replace failing schools: Every district should implement a performance framework that requires schools to show academic growth.
  7. Invest in developing autonomous school leaders.
  8. When possible, give families a choice of autonomous schools.
  9. Explore district-run autonomous models from other cities.

Read the full article about district-run autonomous schools by David Osborne and Emily Langhorne at The 74.