"Sarason’s book is a thoughtful analysis of the predictable problems educators face when they initiate novel programs. . . . .He provides wise counsel about how future failures could be prevented."

–Karen Seashore Louis, University of Minnesota

This is a book that anyone interested in or responsible for educational reform, including parents, will have to read!

The rationale for charter schools is implicitly the most radical critique ever of our school systems. Yet Professor Sarason reluctantly concludes that most charter schools will fail or fall far short of their goals; only a small number will be considered successful. He argues on both theoretical and empirical grounds that it will be impossible to know why a charter school fails or succeeds. The reasons are several, including • national, state, and local politicians and policy makers who support self-defeating legislation • resistance from vested interests in the educational status quo, and • a total ignorance of what creating a new setting inevitably confronts.

The potential significance of charter schools is great. If future charter schools are to exploit this potential, their supporters and creators should be required to read this book. Professor Sarason has again written a seminal and timely book on an educational reform of increasing public interest and significance.

Seymour B. Sarason is Professor of Psychology Emeritus in the Department of Psychology and at the Institution for Social and Policy Analysis at Yale University. His previously published work includes How Schools Might Be Governed and Why (1997), Revisiting "The Culture of the School and the Problem of Change" (1996), and School Change: The Personal Development of a Point of View (1995).