Giving Compass' Take:

• Districts are offering autonomy and freedoms similar to charter schools, and in return, schools must meet high student outcome standards, creating a third option called autonomous schools.

• How will a third option for parents, students, and educators spur more challenges? How can donors play a role in helping demonstrate that this strategy and model is effective? 

• Read more about the promise of district-run autonomous schools.


Communities across the country are embroiled in charter school battles, from a D.C. debate about charters, data and transparency to the latest round of Chicago teacher strikes. These debates almost always devolve into the familiar charter-versus-district narrative that paints a false choice between the two school models.

There’s a third way. Districts can offer schools autonomy, with the same freedoms that charters enjoy, like choosing what curriculum to use and how to train teachers, while remaining in the district and utilizing central office support for facilities, operations, finance and human resources. In exchange for this freedom, these schools often enter into a contract with their district, pledging to achieve strong student outcomes.

Sometimes referred to as in-district charters, these autonomous schools are a promising — if yet unproven — strategy for improving results for students. Empowering talented, maverick leaders and keeping decision-making close to the school enables districts to support these high-quality schools and reverse enrollment declines that can result from charter school growth. Whether they will live up to their promise depends on whether they are given enough autonomy over resources and time to customize their approaches to meet their students’ specific needs.

There are not yet sufficient data around the effectiveness of these schools in terms of student outcomes to declare the strategy a success. However, a 2018 study by PPI suggests that launching autonomous district schools may be a promising strategy to improve student outcomes, and experience suggests that with the right policies and leadership support in place, district autonomous schools can become a powerful reform to create schools our children deserve.

Read the full article about autonomous schools by Mary Wells at The 74.