Joseph R. McKinney

(Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana 47306, USA)

 

 

Abstract: Charter schools are changing the landscape of America’s public schools. There are over 6,000 charter schools operating across the United States. A charter school is created through a contract (the “charter”) and a lawful charter school authorizer. The authorizer approves, monitors, renews and when appropriate closes charter schools. Charter schools have not lived up to their promise of improving academic performance. As a consequence authorizers are writing more detailed charters and stepping up monitoring activities. This flies in the face of the very mission of charter schools. Charter schools are given freedom and flexibility from state and local laws in exchange for using innovating ways to improve academic performance. What alternatives do charter school authorizers have to the drastic measures of overregulation and closing the schools? The answer might lie in an area of contract law and behavioral economics. This paper proposes the use of incentives based on reciprocal norms and social norms instead of market norms.

 

 

Key words: reciprocity norm; charter school authorizers; social norms

 

JEL codes: H75, H51, H52, H53