Charter Schools: Why all the hubbub?

I am back in D.C. today to work with one of our clients, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. A team from Root Cause is supporting the development of their strategic business plan. Charter schools are getting quite a bit of attention these days, with support from both President Obama and Arne Duncan, the new Secretary of Education.

Why all the hubbub? Charter schools are probably one of the best examples of a recent social innovation being taken to scale. By simply allowing a small percentage of public school funding to be used to try new and innovative methods of delivering education to our children, we now have shining examples of how social innovation can drive important change. One can see it in the ways that both New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and Michele Rhee, Chancellor of D.C. Public Schools, are driving their own change agendas in their respective school systems.

As Robert Tomsho pointed out in an article in the Wall Street Journal, “With 1.4 million students in 4,600 [charter] schools, charters are by far the most significant achievement of the ‘choice’ movement that strives to promote educational gains through school competition. Enrollment in charter schools has more than doubled in the last six years.”

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has been leading the way, driving important policy work at both the state and federal levels to ensure that a charter sector is built to support this demand and provide excellent, innovative approaches to education.

Hmm…I wonder what might happen if we took a page from the charter movement and devoted a small percentage of public funding to try new and innovative ways to provide better housing, health care, and workforce development…

Andrew Wolk, Root Cause Founder and CEO

Andrew Wolk is the founder and CEO of Root Cause, a nonprofit research and consulting firm in Cambridge, MA that partners with nonprofits, philanthropy, government, and business to advance solutions to today’s toughest social issues. Please visit Root Cause's website at rootcause.org.

Despite the billions of dollars and millions of nonprofit and government programs devoted to addressing social issues here in the United States and abroad, proven innovations often do not spread and endure. Even the most successful programs are only reaching a fraction of the populations in need.

In an era of limited resources that requires leaders in all sectors to do more with less, the future of society’s health and ability to advance depends on tackling today’s challenges in education, health, job creation, and environmental sustainability.

No one organization or sector has the resources to tackle today’s difficult social issues alone. Instead, leaders in nonprofits, philanthropy, government, and business must work together to identify effective solutions. They must also provide access to resources and distribution systems that will lead to widespread impact.

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About Andrew

Andrew Wolk is Founder and CEO of Root Cause, a nonprofit organization that advances enduring solutions to social and economic problems by supporting social innovators and educating social impact investors.

He is also a senior lecturer in social entrepreneurship at MIT and was recently appointed a Gleitsman Visiting Practitioner in Social Innovation at David Gergen’s Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University. He holds an M.B.A. in Entrepreneurship and Nonprofit Management from Boston University and a B.A. from Lehigh University.

Andrew Wolk