How can you Know if a turnaround is on track?

How can you Know if a turnaround is on track? Presented by Bryan C. Hassel Co-Director, Public Impact

What are the early indicators of turnaround success? Public Impact identified 5 “success factors” from its cross-sector research on successful turnarounds: Leaders exhibit turnaround competencies Leaders take specific turnaround actions Leaders make a turnaround plan to achieve early wins and longer-term goals Schools create the preconditions for learning gains Schools achieve early wins related to high-priority goals

1. Leaders exhibit turnaround competencies • Competencies: • Driving for results • Influencing for results • Engaging in problem solving • Showing confidence to lead • Leading Indicators:* • School leader’s overall rating on each competency • Leader’s rating within each cluster of related competencies * Leading indicators are the early signs that leaders outside education regularly use to determine whether an organization is on the right track or headed toward failure.

2. Leaders take specific turnaround actions • Key examples:* • Concentrate on big, fast payoffs in year 1 • Implement practices even if they require deviation • Make necessary staff replacements • Communicate a positive vision • Gain support of key influencers • Drive decisions with frequent open-air data sharing • Leading Indicators: • Ratings on the degree to which the leader engages in each action • Teacher turnover rates (voluntary/ involuntary) *See “References” slide for links to full list of leader actions.

3. Leaders make a plan to achieve early wins and later goals • Plan Elements: • Plan is based on a review of data, addresses, implementation of turnaround success actions • Plan includes goals (early-win and later) and detailed steps • Leader and all staff take steps according to plan • Leading Indicators: • Existence of a plan, including turnaround success actions • Level of clarity and detail in all goals, steps, and timing for all staff • Ratings of timeliness of actions to implement steps in plan • Existence of systems to regularly collect, analyze, and use data

4. Schools achieve preconditions for learning gains • Preconditions: • Improved instruction quality • Increased participation in school • Improved school culture • Leading Indicators: • Percentage of students taught by highly effective teachers • Number of instructional minutes • Student and teacher attendance • Truants • Student turnover rates • Dropout rate • Discipline incidents • Student, parent, teacher satisfaction

5. Schools achieve early wins related to high-priority goals • Leading Indicators: • State test results • Benchmark test results and short-cycle assessments • Other indicators based on school-specific early-win goals

Process and Timing When should districts and their partners monitor and collect data for indicators within each of the success factors?

Before school begins:

Quarterly or monthly:

Annually:

Implications for districts Start with known success factors Use frequent and first-hand monitoring Different indicators (and schools) will require different frequency Monthly, quarterly (or even weekly) data collection and analysis Hands-on: gather data first-hand through presence in school Act on early indicators of success or failure Choose the right assistance when schools are having challenges Retry major change Reward early and sustained success Collect mountains of data, and narrow to the most predictive over time Correlate an initial set of indicators with student outcome data

Implications for states Build a set of leading indicators for districts to start with Require districts to use a basic set of leading indicators based on research about successful turnarounds Commit to learn and refine over time Require more frequent monitoring of turnaround schools Roll up information from district monitoring and reporting Create tools all districts can use Competency assessments Site visit protocols Monitoring dashboards Act on early indicators of success or failure Enable and support districts in retrying major change Be ready to act to “retry” if districts do not

Implications for school leaders Collect, analyze and report key information about your school’s and students’ progress Regular (daily, weekly, monthly) basis Use data to inform new actions and revisions to the turnaround priorities Share key achievement data with staff members to inspire improvements and spur momentum Actively engage with district staff to understand successes and challenges Build relationships to explain the reasons behind the numbers Use monitoring visits as an opportunity to troubleshoot barriers and connect with needed resources

References Public Impact. (2008). School turnaround leaders: Competencies for turnaround success. Available: http://publicimpact.com/images/stories/publicimpact/documents/Turnaround_Leader_Competencies.pdf Hassel, E. & Hassel, B. (2009). “The Big U-Turn.” Education Next. Available: http://educationnext.org/the-big-uturn/ Public Impact. (2009). Try, try again: How to triple the number of fixed failing schools without getting any better at fixing schools. Available:http://www.centerforcsri.org/files/CenterIssueBriefSept09.pdf Kowal, J. & Ableidinger, J.(forthcoming). Leading indicators of school turnarounds: How to know when dramatic change is on track. Kowal, J., Hassel, E., & Hassel, B. (2009). Successful school turnarounds: Seven steps for district leaders. The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement. Available: http://www.centerforcsri.org/files/CenterIssueBriefSept09.pdf For more on school turnarounds from Public Impact, visit http://schoolturnarounds.org/

Bryan C. Hassel, Ph.D.Bryan_Hassel@publicimpact.com Developed with assistance from Daniela Doyle and Julie Kowal of Public Impact.

How can you Know if a turnaround is on track?