Center on Educational Governance, University of Southern California
2005
How can charter schools most effectively partner with nonprofits, for-profits, government agencies, and other groups? This brief paperback serves as a handy primer on that topic for both newbies and old hands, delivering a nuts-and-bolts breakdown of managing effective collaborations. The authors studied 22 charter schools that had entered into such partnerships, boiling down their collective experiences into an octet of "lessons for success," several of them obvious and predictable: identifying needs, picking the right partner, defining the scope of the relationship, and setting accountability measures. Overall, the book explains the basic character of a charter school-partner collaboration, outlining its elements and stages while also advising on how to break up if things don't go as planned. Nothing earth-shattering here, but worth a peek. Get it here.