An essential theme of the recent educational reform in the United States is
\'school choice\', and a hot issue in the debate of school choice is notions about
charter school policies. The primary focus of the charter school was on a
trade-off of greater autonomy for accountability in student achievement. This new
charter school movement has been known as a cure for the crisis of public
education in the United States in terms of the improvement in student
achievement, actualization of the educational equity, and the decentralization
through community control of the schools.
This study focuses on the political ideology in the process of emerging charter
schools, and the possibilities and limitations of charter school reforms when
ideology meets public policy.
Most of previous studies have simply focused on the situation of charter
schools, numbers and chronological change of charter schools, and the introduction
and presentation of charter school laws. However, main focus of this study is
deep understanding and analysis of the conflict between rhetoric vs. reality in the
process of implementing charter school policies.