Turning Around Struggling Schools: An Overview

Turning Around Struggling Schools: An Overview Carlas McCauley Educational Program Specialist U.S. Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education www.betterhighschools.org

Why Turnaround? Implement Rigorous Interventions • Of the 45 states with schools in restructuring in SY 2006-07, 29 selected “other” as their restructuring strategy • Support teams were the most common mechanism for delivering support to schools identified for improvement in 2006–07

Why Turnaround? Implement Rigorous Interventions, cont’d • Although more than half of the schools in their 2nd year of restructuring reported that they had planned for restructuring, very few schools reported any of the named NCLB interventions, including: • Replacing all or most of the school staff (17%) • State takeover of the school (3%) • Reopening the school as a public charter school (1%) or • Contracting with a private entity to manage the school (1%) These results are consistent with a Government Accountability Office report that found that about 40% of schools in restructuring had not taken any of the five restructuring options under NCLB (GAO, 2007)

Turnaround Strategy Includes: • Commitment to turnaround over five years 5,000 lowest-achieving schools over • Identifying and serving the persistently lowest-achieving Title I schools in each State • Supporting the most rigorous interventions • Providing Sufficient Resources • Measuring Progress

Secondary Focus Balfanz & Legters There are between 900 and 1,000 high schools in which graduation is at best a 50/50 proposition. If the standard used to classify a school as having weak promoting power is relaxed to include high schools with 60% or fewer seniors than freshmen, the number of chronically low-performing schools doubles to 2000.(Balfanz & Legters, John Hopkins University, September 2004)

Targeting LEAs and Schools • Resources • Sustaining Efforts • Capacity

Joseph R. Harris, Ph.D. Director, National High School Center Managing Research Analyst American Institutes for Research National High School Centerat the American Institutes for Research www.betterhighschools.org

ARRA High School Turnaround Opportunities • ARRA funds provide unprecedented opportunities for HS improvement, including • turnaround of lowest performing high schools (SIG) • increasing instructors who teach hard-to-staff subjects in high-needs schools (TIF) • alternative routes to certification (RTT) • scaling-up promising practices (i3) • ARRA emphasizes large-scale high school improvements not incremental changes www.betterhighschools.org

ARRA High School Sample Turnaround Strategies • Personalization and student engagement • Small schools and smaller learning communities • Advisories and mentoring • Freshman and career-focused academies • Transitions into high school / 9th grade • Rigorous content mastery / high expectations • Content and credit recovery • Tiered interventions • Early college/dual enrollment and AP/IB courses www.betterhighschools.org

ARRA High School Sample Turnaround Strategies • Increased time • Student learning / time on task • Teacher professional development and collaboration • Increased use of data • Instructional planning and decision making • Early Warning Systems for students at-risk • Ongoing student progress monitoring • Monitoring teacher and principal effectiveness www.betterhighschools.org

ARRA High School Turnaround Recommendations • Focus on maximizing attainment for ALL high school students not just structural changes • Seek and use evidence-based strategies • Implement comprehensive, systemic approaches and avoid “silver bullets” • Promote coherence and alignment • Support capacity building at all levels • Plan for sustainability from day one www.betterhighschools.org

Turnaround Strategies: Elementary Schools Elaine Romero 2009 Classroom Teaching Ambassador Fellow Office of Innovation and Improvement US Department of Education www.betterhighschools.org

ARRA Elementary School Recommended Considerations: Turnaround Strategies • In K-12 our focus is on improving what matters most: improving teaching and learning in the classroom. • Foundations are set in the primary grades • "Children who fall behind in first grade have a one in eight chance of ever catching up to grade level without extraordinary efforts.“ - C. Juel, Learning to Read and Write in One Elementary School (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1994).437-447 Romero – Teaching Ambassador Fellow

ARRA Elementary School Recommended Considerations: Turnaround Strategies • There are many Extraordinary Efforts in our schools today • Providing Tiered instruction to students • Reading and math interventionists • Research-based curricula • These take resources so please keep the foundational years in the front of your planning. Romero – Teaching Ambassador Fellow

ARRA Elementary School Recommended Considerations: Turnaround Strategies • In K-12 our focus is on improving what matters most: improving teaching and learning in the classroom. • Whether a teacher comes from one of nations top teacher preparation programs or more commonly one that has not prepared us for the 21st challenges of educating all children – teachers need TIME. • Time to utilize data, time to be reflective, and time to collaborate with colleagues. • Implementation of Instructional Coaches in every school in one urban district is forward thinking and addressing the need to improve teaching. Romero – Teaching Ambassador Fellow

ARRA Elementary School Recommended Considerations: Turnaround Strategies • How will you give teachers TIME? • Consider how your professional development is utilized. • The National Staff Development Council (NSDC) definition of professional development is “comprehensive, sustained, and intensive approach to improving teachers’ and principals’ effectiveness in raising student achievement”. • JOB-EMBEDDED, ONGOING, COLLABORATIVE, AT THE SCHOOL. • TIME will allow us to improve teaching Romero – Teaching Ambassador Fellow

ARRA Elementary School Recommended Considerations: Turnaround Strategies • In K-12 our focus is on improving what matters most: improving teaching and learning in the classroom. • There is no magic bullet – this will take collaboration, reflection, continuous daily checking of what students know (cautiously referred to as “formative assessment”). This is work that needs to be done BY teachers. How will you provide the TIME necessary for your teachers? • Robert Marzano recently visited Albuquerque for a PLC (Professional Learning Community) summit he said, “If we utilize what we know and put it into practice, we will revolutionize education. This is school reform.” Romero – Teaching Ambassador Fellow

ARRA Elementary School Recommended Considerations: Turnaround Strategies • Include teachers in these critical planning conversations you are having to prepare for ARRA • Teaching Ambassador Fellowship is the Department of Education setting an example. • Mission: Improve education for students by involving teachers in national education policy. • Create a community of teachers who share expertise and collaborate with policymakers and leaders in federal government and national education issues. • Involve teachers in developing policies that affect the classroom. • Expand teacher leadership at the national, state, and local levels. Romero – Teaching Ambassador Fellow

ARRA Elementary School Recommended Considerations: Turnaround Strategies • How will you expand teacher leadership? • Will you include teachers in conversations now or will it be another “silo” top-down mandate that reaches our classrooms? • In every plan you make as a state or district leader ask, “will this improve teaching? Will this improve learning?” Romero – Teaching Ambassador Fellow

Turning Around Struggling Schools: An Overview