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Chartering Turnaround: Leveraging Public Charter School Autonomy to Address Failure

Instructional Transformation

Chartering Turnaround: Leveraging Public Charter School Autonomy to Address Failure

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Persistently low-achieving public schools around the country have received $5.8 billion from the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, in addition to district and state funds, and other supplementary federal funds. Despite all of these sources of funding, most of the schools receiving them have failed to make a dramatic difference in improving student achievement. However, according to a new report jointly released by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and the Center on School Turnaround, autonomy provided by state charter laws can be better leveraged to improve school turnaround efforts.

The report, Chartering Turnaround: Leveraging Public Charter School Autonomy to Address Failure, provides case studies of three charter management organizations (CMOs) that have successfully restarted low-achieving public schools, adding a valuable component to the limited body of research that exists about turnaround models. The report highlights the freedoms that benefit poor-performing schools most significantly, including: the autonomy to hire, retain and reward staff; the ability to adjust the length of school year, academic program and curriculum; and, the option to develop tailored approaches for finances and facilities.

Support for Rapid School Improvement: How Federal Dollars Can Be Leveraged for Systematic Improvement

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This document has been created to serve as a guide for the purpose of aligning spending to support turnaround efforts and offers examples of how federal funds may be used to support a framework designed to produce a coherent strategy for school turnaround. This guide was developed under the auspices of the Center on School Turnaround and authored by Melissa Junge and Sheara Krvaric of the Federal Education Group, PLLC (FEG). FEG provides legal and strategic advice, draft guidance, decision points, written analysis and opinions, briefing papers, compliance counseling, and trainings on all major K–12 federal education programs, including the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and Perkins.

Recruit, Select, and Support: Turnaround Leader Competencies

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Leading school turnaround is complex work, but research shows that there are specific competencies that school leaders need for successful turnaround efforts. This professional learning module can help regional comprehensive centers and state education agency staff learn how to use these competencies to recruit, select, and provide ongoing support to school principals working in a turnaround context. The material was developed through a partnership among four organizations:  the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, The Center on School Turnaround, Public Impact, and University of Virginia (UVA) Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education. The module is divided into three parts:

Part 1: Understanding Turnaround Leader Competencies

  • Acknowledge the unique challenges of leading school turnaround.
  • Identify leader competencies and actions associated with turnaround success.
  • Understand the importance of competencies in turnaround leader selection and development.
  • Analyze school leader behaviors to identify evidence of competencies.

Part 2: Recruiting and Selecting Turnaround Leaders

  • Understand the importance of competencies in recruiting and selecting turnaround leaders.
  • Understand how to recruit leaders with competencies to turn around persistently low-performing schools.
  • Design a competency-based interview and selection process for turnaround leaders.
  • Assess and improve the recruitment and selection process to more effectively select turnaround leaders.

Part 3: Developing and Retaining Turnaround Leaders 

  • Determine district structures for principal support.
  • Define the role and responsibility of the principal supervisor.
  • Examine individual and district professional development structures.

Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: An Implementation Framework

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The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) and the National Center for School Turnaround (2018) published the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: An Implementation Framework as a companion to the Center for School Turnaround’s (2017) recent publication of The Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: A Systems Framework. The aim of this companion paper is to describe how to use the improvement domains in practice.

Closing Opportunity and Achievement Gaps: Aligning Systems to Target Supports and Interventions for Students Most in Need

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The purpose of this meeting is to provide states the opportunity to collaborate and discuss key issues as they work to close opportunity and achievement gaps by supporting turnaround in the lowest performing schools and schools with the largest opportunity and achievement gaps. This meeting features panel discussions and leverage peer-to-peer learning with intentional time for state discussions and interaction. The meeting primarily consists of a variety of breakout sessions during which state teams will have an opportunity to determine how the topics apply to their state and what actions they might take next.

Key Meeting Objectives

  • Provide an opportunity for within-state collaboration to problem solve and develop strategies to enhance implementation of supports and interventions to assist in closing the opportunity and achievement gaps across schools and districts;
  • Engage in peer-to-peer learning within and across states to discuss promising practices and lessons learned from this work, and determine appropriate next steps for actualizing new ideas; and
  • Leave the meeting with a deeper knowledge of how other states support efforts to close the opportunity and achievement gaps in the lowest performing schools and with concrete ideas for application within states.

Below you will find a link to download materials from the conference.

School Transformation Academy

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The purpose of the School Turnaround Academy is to elevate a state education agency’s (SEA) understanding of research and practice on school turnaround and how a state’s turnaround policies and strategies fit within a coherent system of support and intervention for districts and schools in need of improvement.

Materials for the following events are provided in our archive:

Boot Camp

  • School Transformation: Apply a Research-Based Definition of School Turnaround to Illinois Data presented by Jeanette P. Cornier
  • National Perspective on Transformation & Reflection on SIG Intervention Models presented by Carlas McCauley
  • Relentless Focus on Instruction in Transformation: Closing the Opportunity and Achievement Gap presented by  Kevin Schaefer and Lauren Rhim
  • Dynamics of Change: Innovation and Personalization presented by Sam Redding
  • Network of Learners presented by Rachel Trimble

Learning Exchange #3: Closing the Achievement Gap for Poverty Students

  • School Transformation Academy: Network of Learners (Thursday, March 10, 2016) presented by Monique M. Chism

Learning Exchange #2: Closing the Achievement Gap for Students with Disabilities

  • School Transformation Academy: Network of Learners (Thursday, March 10, 2016) presented by Rorie Fitzpatrick

Learning Exchange #1: Closing the Achievement Gap for English Learning Students

  • Closing the Achievement Gap for English Learning Students presented by Aida Walqui

Also included:

  • Learning Exchange Resources
  • Resource Lists: English Learners, Students with Disabilities, & Poverty
  • Team Leads Monthly Call Archive