A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF IMPLEMENTING AN EDUCATION MODEL FROM SCHOOL LEADERS’ PERSPECTIVES

A high school science teacher asked the question, “Why not make every class an elective?” He noticed that when his high school students were required to take a course, such as biology, the attendance and participation lacked when compared to his elective course of forensic biology. Both classes covered the same science standards. This question led him to applying for a public charter license and ultimately opening the first Choice Charter School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2014. Choice Charter Schools follow the created Choice Charter Education Model, which is based on William Glasser’s Choice Theory (Glasser, 1998). Since the opening of the first Choice Charter School in 2014, a total of four Choice Charter Schools are operating in New Mexico, in addition to one school in Arizona, and one school in Nevada. This phenomenological study seeks to investigate the school leaders’ lived experiences in implementing the Choice Charter Education Model.