Journeys of Charter School Creators

Journeys of Charter School Creators tells of the journeys of ten thriving charter schools throughout the United States and their leaders over the past 20 years. The first seven cases are follow-up stories from the original book published in 2004, Adventures of Charter School Creators: Leading from the Ground Up. The final three cases feature three North Carolina charter schools and their leaders. Each leaders’ narrative reveals amazing journeys with different paths taken, different choices made; however, these leaders were all entrepreneurs with a passion to guide their schools for the long haul toward success with a specific mission and vision to improve educational opportunities and a better future for a specific group of children. Readers will learn, through the firsthand experiences of these charter school leaders, lessons on leading in the challenging charter school world, a rewarding, yet somewhat tumultuous journey of growth and innovation.

Having worked with charter/district school leadership programs for many years, I've been searching for a book like this. It's honest, practical, useful and encouraging. The authors wisely include both successes and mistakes. This is a terrific guide for those who want to create great new public schools, district or charter - and want to understand not only the challenges but also a variety of creative, effective ways to deal with them., Whether it is an urban school like Odyssey in Pasadena, California, or a rural school set in the mountains of North Carolina like Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, the leaders showcased in this book have one characteristic in common: they are missionaries who have been called to serve the needs of the students in their communities. Grit and a growth mindset are two of the most important requirements these servant-leaders possess. If you, too, have the desire to take on this Herculean task, read the book to see if you've got what it takes., In Journeys of Charter School Creators, Leahy and Shore peel back the many diverse layers of leadership revealing not only lessons in school leadership but in leadership as a field of study.  Successful leadership is sustained through not only extraordinarily hard work and creativity, but through a marriage-like level of devotion and commitment to a set of shared values. This book is a valuable resource for aspiring and new charter school founders, education regulators and authorizers, legislators, and even traditional public school board members. While “Journeys” focuses on charter school leadership and creativity, the memorable lessons of its subjects apply to any organization., With all the attention paid to charter management organizations, it is refreshing reading the inspiring first-person accounts of the founders of seven successful independent charter schools corralled by Maria Leahy and Rebecca Ann Shore in Journeys of Charter School Creators. The journey metaphor works, with narratives explaining how the schools and roles of their founders evolved over time. Crucially, each school stayed true to its mission, and each founder stayed true to their school. Though their roles shift, great leaders see their schools as long-term passions---not stepping-stones to bigger opportunities elsewhere. , A book about educational leadership that’s a “page-turner”? This work is that and more! In Journeys of Charter School Creators, Leahy and Shore bring us inside the exciting world of educational entrepreneurship, sharing victories and defeats, and reveal the core values that keep an organization united and on track for success.  It doesn’t disappoint!

Dr. Maria Marsella Leahy, a life-long learner, is passionate about being an agent of change in education.  She has been both a teacher and an administrator in variety of diverse K-12 schools, as well as faculty in higher education.  Her goal is to help cultivate, in others, the tools that they need to be creative, curious lifelong learners.Dr. Rebecca Shore is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  Prior to UNC Charlotte, Dr. Shore worked in schools for 28 years in California, Louisiana, and North Carolina; 13 years of teaching and 15 years in administration.