Policymakers and researchers often talk about "autonomous schools" as if there's a single, agreed-upon definition of what that means. In reality, there's no standard design for autonomous school policies, and school autonomy can mean a lot of different things. The policies that states have enacted vary widely in terms of their goals, the parameters of the flexibility that they provide, and the structure of accountability that's in place for autonomous schools. As a result, autonomous schools operate under very different contours of autonomy and accountability from one state or district to the next. This report aims to define the range of state and district policy structures that enable school autonomy and accountability and identify common themes in how they are being implemented, so that decision-makers have a stronger understanding of how states and districts are evolving in their approaches to school autonomy and accountability. It's based on an in-depth analysis of autonomous school policies in four states where policies are representative of structures commonly in place across the country: Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, and Massachusetts. The authors reviewed state laws and regulations and district policies, and interviewed dozens of state, district, and school leaders to develop a deep understanding of the design of each state's autonomous school policies and how they're being implemented on the ground, including an understanding of successes and challenges along the way. This executive summary provides an overview of the full report. [For "Staking out the Middle Ground: Policy Design for Autonomous Schools," see ED606452.]