Stephanie M Hall

The aim of this paper is to shed light on aspects of the charter school debate that arguably receive less attention—teacher management and resource acquisition (beyond the funding and inputs provided by the government). To do so, it presents results of a case study of the  “Concession Schools” charter school program in Bogotá, Colombia. For teacher management, findings indicate that charter school teachers in Bogotá feel that many aspects of their work environment are positive (e.g., they participate more in group planning with other teachers, they  participate more frequently in professional development, and they engage more regularly with their principals for the purpose of teaching observation, feedback, and discussion of goals and problem solving), though they also report tradeoffs in terms of job security and financial compensation. Charter schools, using the flexibility afforded them around employment, spend half as much on teachers by hiring non-unionized teachers, contracting them for periods of a year or less, imposing more stringent hiring requirements, and offering significantly lower salaries, even though charter school teachers work over 12 hours more each week than their public school counterparts. Charter schools were also found to ignore teacher pay scale regulations—based on teacher qualifications and years of experience—instead assigning hired teachers to lower compensation categories. Findings with regard to resource acquisition address  differences between public and charter schools, perceptions of school leaders, and the routes to resource acquisition used by charter schools, namely: budget prioritization, donations, volunteers, partnerships, and alumni networks. Through these avenues, charter schools are able to offer
supplemental health and medical services, after-school clubs, weekend engagement, university scholarships, and teacher support (e.g., no-interest loans for post-bachelor’s study), among others. Implications for future research are discussed, including the need for studies to distinguish among types of charter schools. The paper concludes that, when addressing the costs and benefits of charter schools in Colombia, we need to ask: Costs in what sense? Benefits for whom? And at whose expense?

This meta-analysis seeks to critically examine the qualitative research being published in influential journals in the field of international and comparative education in order to determine whether qualitative research has remained true to the constructivist paradigm and its theoretical and philosophical underpinnings. Decades after the heated paradigmatic debates within the field of education in the 1980's, we seek to examine whether predictions that the constructivist paradigm would be pushed out by the call for post-positivist, quantifiable, data-driven research have come to fruition. Based on a review of all qualitative research published in the past three volumes of five influential journals in the field, we conclude that while qualitative articles are represented in approximately equal numbers as quantitative articles, there are key elements of the constructivist paradigm are largely absent from these qualitative articles. In particular, our conclusion attempts to address the concern that qualitative researchers are failing to address the issue of researcher positionality in their qualitative work.

Education and NGOs, edited by Lorraine Pe Symaco, contains nine chapters, each presenting a different case study of how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) engage with education. The chapters cover a variety of countries, from " developed " to " developing, " some in conflict, some geographically large, and others small, so as to show the diverse ways NGOs support education. Prior to highlighting a particular NGO and its work in a given country, each chapter presents the relevant development and education indicators as well as the sociopolitical context. In this review, we provide an overview of the book's chapters, before offering a few comments on the overall content and focus of this volume.

As escolas charter são oferecidas como uma solução em distritos escolares onde as escolas públicas são vistas como malsucedidas. Embora as análises gerais dos resultados das escolas charter tenham tendido a descobrir que as escolas charter não produzem melhores resultados acadêmicos, esse modelo de gestão escolar continua sendo um tema candente. No entanto, dois aspectos da experiência da escola charter que recebem menos atenção são a gestão de professores e a aquisição de recursos. Abordamos essas questões através do estudo de um programa de escolas charter em Bogotá, Colômbia, que começou em 1999. Nesse modelo, a cidade de Bogotá recrutou escolas particulares e outras organizações privadas para administrar 25 escolas charter, que foram construídas e bem equipadas em áreas marginalizadas. ABSTRACT Charter schools are offered as a solution in school districts where public schools are seen as failing. Although broad reviews of the outcomes of charter schools have tended to find that charter schools do not produce better academic results, this school management model remains a hot topic. However, two aspects of the charter school experience that receive less attention are teacher management and resource acquisition. We address these issues through the study of a charter school program in Bogotá, Colombia, which began in 1999. In this model, the city of Bogotá recruited private schools and other private organizations to manage 25 charter schools that were newly built and well-equipped in marginalized areas. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP • EDUCATIONAL FINANCES • TEACHERS • COLOMBIA

Charter schools are offered as a solution in school districts where public schools are seen as failing. Although broad reviews of the outcomes of charter schools have tended to find that charter schools do not produce better academic results, this school management model remains a hot topic. However, two aspects of the charter school experience that receive less attention are teacher management and resource acquisition. We address these issues through the study of a charter school program in Bogotá, Colombia, which began in 1999. In this model, the city of Bogotá recruited private schools and other private organizations to manage 25 charter schools that were newly built and well-equipped in marginalized areas. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP • EDUCATIONAL FINANCES • TEACHERS • COLOMBIA