Theses and Dissertations Collection

The landscape of twenty-first century public education in the USA includes more than traditional elementary, middle, and secondary school offerings. Magnet schools, alternative schools, and charter schools are among the variety of school choice options now available to students, stakeholders, and educators. Public charter schools, specifically, have become a popular choice.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perspectives of practicing public charter school leaders of their work roles and responsibilities through the lens of professional standards for school leaders, Authentic Leadership Development, and entrepreneurial thinking. The study focuses on identifying leadership traits and perspectives of practicing public charter school leaders with regards to their professional practice. Participants all practiced in one state within the Pacific Northwest region of the USA. Research questions that guide the study are: (a) What are charter school leaders’ perspectives of their identity as authentic leaders, (b) What are charter school leaders’ perspectives of themselves as entrepreneurs in education, and (c) Which of the National Policy Board for Educational Administration’s Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (2015) are most relevant to practicing public charter school leaders?

This research uses a qualitative multiple case study design, combining participant interviews with document review and observation to analyze data. The theoretical framework of this study incorporates themes from four sources of literature which served as a lens through which the problem was viewed. The first is Authentic Leadership Theory (Bass, 2000; Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, & Peterson, 2008; Hirst, Walumbwa, Aryee, Butarbutar, & Hui Chen, 2016). The second is leadership using entrepreneurial thinking and logic (Rigby, 2014). The third is the National Policy Board for Educational Administration’s (NPBEA) Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, or PSEL (2015). While the PSEL are not theoretical in nature, they do provide the foundation within which the theoretical components of the framework and model are presented. The fourth is traits of public charter school leaders (Carpenter II & Kafer, 2010; Carpenter II & Peak, 2013). A sample of seven participants were selected based on a specific set of criteria outlined in this dissertation.