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School turnarounds prompt community backlash

‘Our concern is that these [school turnaround] reforms have further destabilized our communities,’ said one organizer.

The federal government’s push for drastic reforms at chronically low achieving schools has led to takeovers by charter operators, overhauls of staff and curriculum, and even school shutdowns across the country.

It’s also generated a growing backlash among the mostly low-income, minority communities, where some see the reforms as not only disruptive in struggling neighborhoods, but also as civil rights violations because school turnaround efforts primarily affect black and Latino students.

“Our concern is that these reforms have further destabilized our communities,” said Jitu Brown, education organizer of Chicago’s Kenwood-Oakwood Community Organization. “It’s clear there’s a different set of rules for African-American and Latino children than for their white counterparts.”…Read More

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The science of the sudden school turnaround

New innovations developed by ed-tech company School Improvement Network make it possible to elevate student assessment scores by as much as 20 percent in a single year.

New research helps to unveil the science of the school turnaround, revealing that improving schools dramatically isn’t about working miracles—it’s about having the right tools and the right focus.

Administrators today carry higher expectations on their shoulders than any generation before. With so much at stake, many school leaders question how they can possibly accomplish what’s being asked—to not only raise student achievement, but in some cases to double, triple, or quadruple student success rates.

However, research conducted by Dr. Steven Shaha of the Center for Public Policy and Administration shows that new innovations developed by ed-tech company School Improvement Network make it possible to elevate student assessment scores by as much as 20 percent in a single year. The numbers tell a story of dramatic, lasting improvement in student achievement being made every day, all over the country.…Read More

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Report: Only one percent of ‘bad’ schools turn around

A lot of attention is being given to the idea of school “turnarounds” lately–the concept of taking a poorly performing school and drastically changing the staff, curricula, or other elements in an effort to make it much better. But a study out Tuesday underlines just how hard it is to actually turn around a failing school, reports the Christian Science Monitor. The study, “Are Bad Schools Immortal?,” examined more than 2,000 of the worst-performing district and charter schools in 10 states over five years. It found that very few of them closed, and even fewer–about 1 percent–truly “turned around.”

“So far, [turnarounds] happen rarely and unsystematically,” says Chester Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which released the study. “And nobody to my knowledge has a proven recipe for making it happen in a reliable or predictable or scalable way…. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack.”

That may be bad news for the Obama administration, which is investing some $3.5 billion in school-improvement grants to try to address America’s chronically bad schools. The money can be used in four ways, which include smaller steps–such as replacing the principal, adding time to the school day, and changing curricula. There are also more-drastic steps like closing a school, reopening it as a charter, or implementing a turnaround model in which most of the staff is replaced and a new principal is given increased autonomy. But the study comes with some caveats, including the fact that those more-extreme turnaround models have only recently been getting more attention. They were tried very little in the time period (2003-2009) that the study examined.…Read More

Videos highlight successful school reform

The films aim to show how difficult changes in schools can lead to dramatic improvements in student achievement. — The videos aim to show how difficult changes in schools can lead to dramatic improvements in student achievement.

To help local leaders with their own school-reform efforts, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has produced a new series of online videos highlighting successful school improvements from districts across the nation.

The videos illustrate how several school districts have successfully turned around their low-performing schools using the four models endorsed by ED’s $3.5 billion Title I School Improvement Grant program.

This program makes funds available to states by formula, to help them target the bottom 5 percent of U.S. schools—or approximately 5,000 chronic underperforming schools nationwide, ED says.…Read More

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Plan to stem dropout rate stirs controversy

Only about 70 percent of high school freshmen go on to graduate, the White House says.

The Obama administration is offering a $900 million carrot to the nation’s school systems to tackle what many view as an abysmal dropout rate that threatens America’s ability to compete in the new global economy. But it’s the “stick” portion of the administration’s plan that has rankled many educators.

Districts would get the money only if they agree to one of four plans to dramatically change or even shut down their worst performing schools. One of these plans involves firing the principal and at least half of the staff members at a struggling school—a turnaround plan that captured national attention when it was tried by the Central Falls, R.I., school system last week.

President Obama took aim at the nation’s school dropout epidemic in a March 1 speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. During the event—which was sponsored by the America’s Promise Alliance, a youth-oriented organization founded by former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his wife, Alma—Obama noted the economic impact that dropouts have on America’s ability to compete.…Read More

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