The purpose of this study was to examine the implications of the start-up experience for the evolution and sustainability of charter schools. I conducted interviews of founding members to identify the how design decisions were made, the successes and challenges that came about, and how these experiences informed school design. Interview data and field notes were categorized into constructs, where patterns emerged. These collective patterns were used to develop each school's case study and findings which included: Developing a Charter School: Aspirations and Competing Practices. Aspirations for starting a new school stemmed from shared beliefs but sometimes resulted in competing perspectives about what the design ideas looked like in practice. The challenge of developing a new school had to do with restructuring initial ideas within an expanding and evolving school. Evolving School Design Involves a Continuous Cycle of Exploring, Shaping, and Reshaping. Continuous shaping of initial ideas was influenced by school members and their respective interpretation of needs and expectations. There was a consensus that what was initially planned was never fully accomplished and each school was in a continued state of design, evaluation, and development that continued beyond the start-up years. Development of Meaningful and Sustainable Relationships Within a New School. There was a shared belief that school design was a collective responsibility. Expansion involved trade-offs that affected decision-making. Some design criteria conflicted or complimented each other and produced competing ideas within the school. State Versus Local Responsibilities: Key influencers on Design and Development. The local and state influencers initiated change that was helpful and hurtful to meeting the charter goals. Both schools experienced a change in their authorizer relationship from primarily oversight to a supportive resource. The findings served as the critical lens in defining individual perspectives about start-up school design and development. The conceptual framework of sensemaking provided a means to take a closer look at problematic preferences in designing and operating a charter school. This analysis clarified that some of the experiences outlined in these case studies were mostly unique to starting a new school, such as operational adjustments during expansion, sustaining relationships, and development of curriculum and instruction. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]