Illinois Network of Charter Schools, and The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (2007, August). Charter Public Schools Authorizer's Primer: A Guide for Illinois School Districts. Chicago: Authors.

http://www.incschools.org/documents/AuthorizersPrimer_final2.pdf

This guide provides a sound introduction to charter public schools and authorizing. This unique tool applies the NACSA's national Principles and Standards for charter school authorizing to Illinois -particularly to medium and small districts new to chartering -helping them understand how charters could fit into a community and how to formulate their messages to district leaders. This primer would also be useful to other states and to charter school developers across the country.

Booker, K., Gill, B., Zimmer, R., & Sass, T. R. (2008 May). Achievement and Attainment in Chicago Charter Schools. Santa Monica, CA: RAND (with Mathematica and FSU).

http://rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2008/RAND_TR585.pdf

This report examines transfers to charter schools in Chicago; assesses their achievement gains relative to district-run schools as measured by state test scores; and examines longer-term outcomes, analyzing whether Chicago's charter high schools are increasing their students' likelihood of graduating, their scores on the ACT® college-admission exam, and their probability of enrolling in college.