Eric Premack grew up in Minneapolis; graduated from Washburn High School. After graduate school in public policy he went to California; worked initially with the Office of the Legislative Analyst where he was assigned to education finance; then worked as a consultant in the field. In 1991 he began making people in California aware of the…

This paper tries to set out a framework for thinking about whether the innovation known as "charter schools" is working. It is designed to help those who are designing evaluations and those who are thinking about accountability. The charter schools movement is a new state strategy for educational system change. Those who ask whether the…