Part and parcel of a charter school authorizer's oversight responsibility is the unenviable task of closing a school that fails to pass muster. As with most challenges that authorizers face, closing a charter school can be a complex task; executing a closure decision can entail a web of issues that the prudent authorizer must unravel carefully. And while no two charter schools' circumstances or closure processes will be identical, having a standard yet adaptable closure protocol guided by principles of effective leadership will help authorizers address the difficulties of a school closure consistently, adequately and, most importantly, in a manner that protects students and the public interest. Ronald Heifetz, author of "Leadership Without Easy Answers" and a renowned expert on leadership theory, exhorts those in positions of authority to advance goals through adaptive leadership which Heifetz defines in terms of five strategic principles: (1) Identify the adaptive challenge; (2) Keep the level of distress within a tolerable range for doing adaptive work; (3) Focus attention on ripening issues and not on stress-reducing distractions; (4) Give the work back to the people, but at a rate they can stand; and (5) Protect voices of leadership without authority. This issue brief addresses common issues that authorizers face in executing a school closure and demonstrates how adherence to Heifetz's five strategic principles of adaptive leadership can help an authorizer respond effectively to the attendant challenges. In addition, this brief provides some salient observations and practical policy approaches that one authorizer, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), has incorporated into its charter school closure protocol and practices. (Contains 4 endnotes and 3 resources.)