This study examined the institution-building efforts of a leading charter school management organization, Achievement First. The study used a conceptual framework derived from institutional theory in sociology that offers two competing policy contexts in which charter schools and charter management organizations operate--a bureaucratic versus decentralized frame. As charter school leaders pursue new and different forms of schooling within a decentralized policy frame, they are challenged by well-established bureaucratic rules and norms that define what it means to be a legitimate school and that exert isomorphic pressures on newly created charter organizations to conform to normative definitions of schooling. Micro-level institution-building efforts, however, represent viable alternatives to the institutional order of public education, as charter school leaders attempt to achieve scale of their school models through charter management organizations. Findings from this study indicate that while macro-institutional forces constrain charter school management organization behavior, local actors respond strategically at the micro-level in ways that thwart isomorphism and allow the charter management organization to build to scale. [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://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]