Education Week - September 28, 2016 - 1

Equipping the Toolbox
For School Turnaround
WHEN IT COMES TO SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT,
everybody's an expert: federal policymakers, state
officials, legislators, consultants, academics.
So why does the nation's public education system still
seem to struggle with how to boost performance for all
schools-from the bottom-of-the-barrel places targeted
for government-mandated turnaround to high-performers
that still fall short for vulnerable groups of students?
Ask a roomful of those experts, and you'll hear a variety
of sometimes-conflicting answers. The need to hold
schools' and districts' feet to the fire. Red tape and topdown interference, keeping the locals from crafting their
own paths to the top. A reliance on approaches that lack
sufficient evidence and research to back them up.
Or maybe it's a reluctance to-in the words of one
district superintendent-"roll up our sleeves and
get dirty just like everyone else" in the tough task of
turning around the lowest-performing schools and
assuring high quality for all of them.
In this special report, Education Week takes a look
at the hard work of school turnaround against the
backdrop of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the latest
revision of the nation's main K-12 education law.
ESSA, which goes into full effect in the 2017-18 school
year, will put more flexibility in the hands of state and
district leaders in a wide range of areas, including school
improvement. But it also mandates that states identify
their worst-performing schools, along with those with
high dropout rates and achievement gaps-and requires
that their solutions be supported by evidence.
Reporters explore ways the federal law expands state
and district leeway, their capacity in tackling school
quality, and just what it takes for an improvement
strategy to be "evidence-based."
They look at innovations underway in such states
as Tennessee and Vermont, ranging from funding
turnarounds to vetting schools in need of improvement.
And they profile school-level work and approaches
aimed at raising the performance of student groups
such as racial minorities, Native Americans, and those
with disabilities, which historically have lagged behind
their peers, including at high-performing schools.
Education Week's aim: to offer school leaders a broad
perspective on the turnaround challenge, its regulatory
context, and the experience of schools around the
country as they step up to the plate.
-THE EDITORS

Gabriella Demczuk for Education Week

EDITOR'S NOTE

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24
29
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35

ESSA Clears Out Underbrush
On School Improvement Path
Finding Evidence-Based
Fixes for Schools
Assuring Needy Groups
Aren't Overlooked

Students take part in an
SAT Prep class at
Franklin High School in
Reisterstown, Md.
The school is tackling
gaps among students
in SAT scores,
graduation rates and
enrollment in Advanced
Placement classes.

Inside a District's
'Transformation Zone'
Lessons From a 'Hidden Gem'
In Alabama
Tackling Climate,
Behavior to Make Gains

38
This issue
includes the
TopSchoolJobs
Recruitment
Marketplace

At Vt. Schools,
A Look Under the Hood
Calif. Agency's Goal:
Bolster District Role
Loosening the Reins
On Improvement Aid

ON THE COVER: Jere Whitson Elementary School student Alicia Long, 9, follows along
in Monica Johnson's 4th grade reading/language arts class during a lesson on reading
comprehension. The school, in Cookeville, Tenn., is part of a district that's
experimenting with new ways of using federal funds to teach reading and literacy.
Photo by Shawn Poynter for Education Week

EDUCATION WEEK (ISSN 0277-4232) is published 37 times per year: weekly except 11/23, 12/7, 12/21, 12/28/2016, and 2/1, 3/15, 4/12, 4/29, 5/3, 6/28, 7/5, 7/12, 7/26, 8/2, 8/9 and 8/16/2017
by Editorial Projects in Education Inc., offices located at 6935 Arlington Rd., Suite 100, Bethesda, MD 20814-5287; (301) 280-3100. Subscriptions: U.S.: $129 for one year (37 issues). Canada: $197.
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Education Week - September 28, 2016

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