Term
Summer 2026
Capstone
Dissertation
Degree Name
EdD
Primary Advisor/Dissertation Chair
Karen Moroz
Abstract
Allen, D. (2026). What Leadership and Operational Strategies should Twin Cities Black-led Charter Schools have to Promote School Improvement, Enhance Student Achievement, and Ensure Sustained Organizational Success?
This dissertation examined my story along with the leadership and operational strategies employed by Twin Cities Black-led charter schools to support school improvement, enhance student achievement, and sustain long-term organizational success. Black-led charter schools emerged as community-centered educational alternatives designed to provide culturally responsive learning environments for Black students and families while addressing persistent educational inequities. Despite their important role within Minnesota's educational landscape, limited empirical research has examined the organizational conditions that contribute to their effectiveness and sustainability. Using a qualitative, systems-oriented approach, this study explored how leadership practices, communication systems, governance structures, operational processes, and organizational conditions interact to influence school performance and institutional stability. Data were collected through interviews, surveys, and document analysis involving educational leaders, instructional staff, governance representatives, authorizers, community stakeholders, and parents. Findings revealed that communication functions as the central organizing system of school effectiveness; leadership effectiveness is constrained more by organizational systems than by individual capacity; governance instability and leadership turnover undermine sustainability; cultural alignment is often not matched by operational and instructional coherence; and structural inequities in funding, accountability, and policy environments significantly influence organizational outcomes. This study contributes to the literature by positioning Black-led charter schools not as isolated educational institutions, but as complex organizational systems whose long-term success depends on the alignment of leadership, governance, communication, instructional practice, and operational capacity. It extends existing scholarship by shifting the focus beyond debates over school choice or student achievement alone to examine the organizational conditions that sustain or undermine institutional effectiveness. Through the development of the Theory of Corners, the LEAD Framework, Adaptive Systems Alignment (ASA), and the concept of Compassionate Incompetence, this study offers a systems-based framework for understanding how organizational health influences school improvement, student achievement, and institutional sustainability. In doing so, it provides researchers, policymakers, authorizers, school boards, and educational leaders with practical conceptual tools for strengthening Black-led charter schools and advancing equitable educational opportunities for Black students and their families.
Research Methodology
Comparative Case Study, Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT), Critical Race Theory (CRT), and Critical Ethnographic Inquiry
Keywords
Charter Schools, Leadership, Organizational Health, Organizational Communication
Recommended Citation
Allen, II, Donald W-R., "What Leadership And Operational Strategies Should Twin Cities Black-Led Charter Schools Have To Promote School Improvement, Enhance Student Achievement, And Ensure Sustained Organizational Success?" (2026). School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations. 4640.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/hse_all/4640
dc_type
text
dc_publisher
DigitalCommons@Hamline
dc_format
application/pdf
dc_source
School of Education Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations