Turnaround requires competent and committed personnel at every level and in every position. Policies and procedures to identify, select, place, retain, and sustain these personnel, especially teachers and school-level leaders, are a precursor to school turnaround, and staffing of teachers and leaders for turnaround schools should be approached with equity in mind.
Turnaround competencies are identified and used to select and develop turnaround teachers, model teachers, and leaders. At all levels, educators utilize and hone their instructional and transformational leadership to build capacity in those they supervise by continually balancing support with accountability.
Recruit, develop, retain, and sustain talent
Practice Description
Proactively plan to recruit and develop talent with turnaround-specific competencies to quickly fill vacancies that inevitably occur during the turnaround process.
Use multiple data sources to match candidate skills and competencies to school needs, prioritizing the highest need schools.
Institute succession-planning activities. Create in-house district preparation programs designed to foster and generate turnaround competencies to develop future turnaround leaders and teachers.
School-Based Example
Collaborate with the district to develop a school-specific competency model for turnaround teachers to discern which competencies are prioritized in the teacher selection process for a specific school. Utilize the district turnaround talent pool as the go-to source for hiring assistant principals and teachers. Encourage aspiring leaders to participate in turnaround preparation programs.
Induction programs are developed, actively used, and shown to improve student learning.
Strategies and Suggestions
Design and implement a teacher induction/acculturation program for all teachers new to the school. This program provides teachers with information about school operations and norms.
Create a site-level induction program that includes an orientation to site operations and that articulates the cultural and academic expectations of the school culture.
Consider creating peer support in the form of buddy teachers or grade-level teams; define the expectations and frequency of check-ins between mentors and new staff.
Have the administration follow up with new teachers a minimum of three times throughout the school year to ensure a consistent understanding of desired expectations and provide extra support if necessary.
Increase the number of informal visits to classrooms and focus efforts on the quality of feedback provided to teachers.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
Has a program for the induction of new teachers been developed? When and how is it used?
Does the program result in improved student learning?
What evidence-based instructional strategies do new teachers need to learn in their first year?
Are the climate and culture at the school supportive and nurturing for new teachers?
Are there instructional coaches committed and eager to support new teachers?
Is there a high degree of professional collaboration among teachers focused on sharing and improving instructional practices?
Prioritizing the hiring or training of instructional specialists is a high priority.
Strategies and Suggestions
Write a clear description of the roles of an instructional specialist in supporting a cadre of highly qualified, highly effective teachers.
Provide leadership training and coaching for all instructional specialists (e.g., reading coach, mathematics coach, reading specialist).
Inspire instructional specialists with regular and timely feedback from their colleagues and administration and have their performance evaluated (using multiple measures) against their SMART goals.
Provide consistent, high-quality feedback at the school leadership level, allowing valuable data to ensure a highly effective instructional program.
If the capacity does not currently exist at the district level, encourage the district to consider investing in outside coaches to regularly support the work of instructional specialists.
Allow district and site leadership to evaluate the current instructional coaching system to determine the coaches’ most efficient and effective use and make changes as appropriate.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
How are specialists who provide guidance on instruction trained? Who is responsible for this training?
What is the focus of their training?
Does the training meet the instructional needs of the school and students?
How do efforts to prioritize or hire instructional specialists take into account equitable access and inclusion for historically underrepresented groups?
Teachers are assigned because their teaching skills match the needs of the students in the class or program.
Strategies and Suggestions
Create a matrix of teacher skill sets and certifications prior to creating the school master schedule. Consult the matrix prior to assigning teachers to specific programs and/or classes.
Provide opportunities for individual teachers to share their perceived skill set.
Establish a system to support the appropriate connection between teacher skill set, student need, and program or class.
Clearly articulate to teachers which skill set determines they are the best fit for a particular program or This step could support the expectation that a teacher will use a particular skill set to meet the needs of students.
Create opportunities to build capacity in various teaching skills that will support the needs of your students in a specific program or class.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
How do you determine student learning needs? Are student needs officially recorded in a document that can be accessed by those who create student schedules?
How do you determine teacher skill sets?
What are the prerequisite skills needed for teachers to be successful in teaching specific programs and/or classes?
Who is accountable for ensuring that teacher skills match the needs of the students in the class or program?
What opportunities do you provide for teachers to expand their skill set for a specific class or program?
School leaders work with teachers, parents, and community members to develop a shared definition of “good teaching” and review data to identify school needs before teacher candidates go through a rigorous process to be hired.
Strategies and Suggestions
Direct school and district officials to attract, select, and retain highly committed educators and staff who fit well with the mission and vision of the school.
Encourage interested parties at the school to create selection criteria matching the school’s mission, vision, and identified needs of the grade level in which a new hire works.
Instruct district officials to have candidates teach demonstration lessons for hiring committees to make thoughtful decisions about the people they want to join their team.
Invite school leaders to share the criteria considered by the hiring team with the school community and communicate how the successful candidate or candidates demonstrated the standards in practice and through their experience.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
Does the school leader work with all interested parties to develop a shared understanding of “good teaching”?
How is “good teaching” defined?
What are the school’s instructional needs related to hiring new teaching staff?
How is the team creating a consensus and understanding of teacher placements and assignments? What is used to match school needs with teacher and leader competencies?
Teacher-leaders are selected and developed based on the school’s primary needs and the teachers’ fit to support school initiatives.
Strategies and Suggestions
Consider multiple factors when selecting teacher-leaders, including instructional skills, curriculum knowledge, understanding of the school’s mission, willingness to learn, and the ability to positively influence staff development.
Outline and share the responsibilities of teacher-leaders regarding school-based initiatives.
Provide leadership training and coaching for all teacher-leaders (e.g., grade-level leads, department chairs, assistant principals, counselors).
Schedule regular meetings with team leaders to discuss vertical alignment with curriculum, professional learning, schoolwide goals, and upcoming initiatives.
Train teacher leadership teams in group protocols that use “problems of practice” during leadership and professional learning community (PLC) or grade-level team meetings.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
What are the school’s primary needs related to teacher-leaders?
Are teacher-leaders aware of school-based initiatives? How is this awareness made visible to interested parties?
What are teacher-leaders’ responsibilities regarding supporting and advancing those initiatives?
How do teacher-leaders engage with constituencies to share progress toward the initiatives and to make adjustments? How do the initiatives affect the actions of staff members and have the desired impacts on students?
How are skills and aptitudes needed for teacher-leaders identified if the school is currently not using competencies? What resources are available?
Retaining teachers and support staff is extremely important to school leaders.
Strategies and Suggestions
Ensure that work conditions sufficiently meet the staff’s needs so they can deliver quality instruction and receive Important working conditions for teachers include appropriate work assignments, sufficient curriculum guidelines, efficient discipline systems, opportunities for reflection, and the ability to share ideas and resources with colleagues.
Provide instructional leadership and foster collegiality and collaborative relationships that cultivate a positive school climate in which teachers are valued and feel supported in their work.
Welcome new teachers and help them build their teaching skills through reflection and continued emphasis on improving their teaching practices.
Design mentoring programs to enable new and veteran teachers to foster discussion about effective teaching practices, including sharing ideas among colleagues in a collaborative setting and learning from other teachers.
Use data to highlight ways in which teachers’ instructional work has positive effects on academic achievement.
Provide frequent and consistent feedback to teachers and staff on areas of strength as well as on areas of potential improvement to support positive morale and school climate, which consequently strengthens teacher retention and productivity.
Provide opportunities for growth through professional learning and leadership opportunities.
Create opportunities for support staff to collaborate with teachers and for teachers and support staff to discuss alignment in resources, ideas, and tools.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
How have leaders prioritized retaining teachers and staff?
Which data are collected on staff retention? Have these data been analyzed? What are the reasons that teachers and support staff are choosing to apply and work at your school?
What are the reasons that staff are deciding to leave? Is there a system to collect data on this issue? Is there a plan to reengage staff?
How important is staff satisfaction? How are data collected on this topic?
How often are staff included in decision-making processes for the school?
Target professional learning opportunities
Practice Description
Offer high-quality, individualized, and responsive professional learning opportunities designed to build the capacity needed for rapid school improvement.
Offer regular opportunities for job-embedded learning, including coaching, mentoring, and observation (including peer observations).
Leverage and maximize the effectiveness of high-performing teachers, coaches, and leaders by using them as models and peer coaches.
School-Based Example
Create a cadre of instructional leaders (drawing from assistant principals, department coordinators, team leaders, and teachers with demonstrated instructional coaching capacity) who each respond to the professional learning needs of a manageable portion of the faculty, using data to identify those needs. Provide opportunities for leaders and teachers to learn side by side and share how ongoing growth impacts individual practice as instructional and organizational leaders. Ensure that learning experiences are differentiated, purposeful, targeted, employed in rapid response to identified needs, reflective of what is known about effective adult learning, and clearly connected to the school’s turnaround priorities.
School-based professional learning enables teachers to reflect on and make significant improvements to their teaching practices.
Strategies and Suggestions
Utilize regular reviews of the school improvement plan to adapt and adjust to individual professional learning needs.
Develop an “implementation check” schedule for each identified essential Is the work being done? Is the strategy implemented with fidelity? If not, what actions will lead to full implementation? Is additional support needed?
Provide opportunities for leaders and teachers to learn side by side and share how ongoing growth impacts their individual practice as instructional leaders.
Design professional learning opportunities to create relational trust by building new knowledge and skills among all teachers in the school.
Build cycles of reflection, design, implementation, feedback, and practice into the everyday culture of the school.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
Are opportunities for teacher reflection embedded into professional development?
What are the expectations for changes in teachers’ practices?
Is there an expectation for teachers to participate in professional learning?
Are data and evidence used for ongoing professional development?
Are experienced teachers interested in and capable of leading professional learning?
Schoolwide professional development activities are differentiated to address the various learning needs of teachers and are delivered using the expertise of teachers.
Strategies and Suggestions
Ensure that school leaders, in collaboration with staff members, develop plans for ongoing, formative support for all school employees. Include ongoing coaching and capacity-building opportunities to assist teachers with instructional strategies. Ensure teachers receive regular feedback about their practice.
Ensure that school leaders prioritize observations based on teacher needs and student achievement goals.
Ensure that school leaders measure and monitor the implementation of priority initiatives for levels of use and develop a system of support for groups of teachers.
Provide site leaders with training on effective professional learning practices, including systems of ongoing coaching with regular feedback that supports implementation.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
What are the professional learning needs of turnaround leadership and staff? What steps need to be taken to fulfill those needs?
How are professional learning activities differentiated?
Do the professional learning activities address the various learning needs of teachers?
Is professional learning delivered using the expertise of teachers? How is teacher expertise encouraged and incorporated into professional learning activities?
Who is responsible for providing and leading the professional learning opportunities and experiences for turnaround leadership and staff? How are leaders ensuring that professional learning is rapid, responsive, and customized?
School leaders encourage teachers to try new practices in their classrooms; the leaders also assign responsibility and provide resources for teachers and staff to help shape the teaching practices of others.
Strategies and Suggestions
Develop a system to share knowledge gained and next steps with the whole staff after training.
Provide mentors to support the instructional needs of new teachers.
Advise teachers who have expertise in using particular instructional strategies to take leadership roles in staff development and teacher-to-teacher support.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
How are high-performing teachers leveraged to expand their positive influence outside their classrooms?
How are teachers and staff encouraged to try new practices in their classrooms?
How are responsibilities assigned to teachers to help shape the teaching practices of others?
Is there a high degree of professional collaboration among teachers focused on sharing and improving instructional practices?
Teachers experience regular peer observations with feedback, and the feedback enhances high-priority instructional strategies.
Strategies and Suggestions
Consider providing an observation protocol for teachers to use when observing one another.
Consider providing classroom coverage for teachers to observe one another or encourage the use of videos so that coverage is not an issue.
Provide opportunities and time for teachers to debrief, discuss, and offer feedback after observations.
Consider connecting observations, teaching rubrics, schoolwide goals, professional learning focus, and so on.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
Do teachers have opportunities to participate in peer observation?
What is the school’s structure for peer observation?
Has the school developed a vision and purpose around peer observation?
How is the impact of peer observation monitored and measured?
Is feedback collected from teachers regarding the impact of peer observation?
How do school leaders create a culture in which teachers may confront the most challenging aspects of their work when seeking advice and guidance from peers?
Teachers experience regular walk-throughs with feedback, and the feedback enhances high-priority instructional strategies.
Strategies and Suggestions
Develop a classroom walk-through schedule for the principal and assistant principal so teachers have a common understanding of when walk-throughs take place and how long visits last on average.
Consider having face-to-face debriefs with teachers as a result of data collected in walk-throughs to provide them with high-quality instructional coaching support.
Provide the administration with training on tools and skills that facilitate meaningful feedback to teachers to increase quality instructional feedback schoolwide.
Spend time in the classroom or virtual classroom with teachers and students to observe and provide relevant and timely feedback.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
Do teachers have the opportunity to receive formative feedback through the walk-through process?
Has the school developed a vision and purpose for the use of walk-through observations as formative feedback?
How is the impact of walk-through observations monitored and measured?
Is feedback collected from teachers regarding the impact of observations?
How are school leaders creating a culture in which teachers may confront the most challenging aspects of their work when seeking advice and guidance from administrators?
Is feedback immediate or delayed? If delayed, how long does it take?
How does the information teachers receive help them grow and learn?
How involved is the teacher in the feedback process?
Instructional coaching programs are developed, actively used, and shown to improve student learning.
Strategies and Suggestions
Use flexibility in budgeting processes to allocate resources to one or more instructional coaches.
If there are insufficient resources, seek funding opportunities from the district, the community, or grant sources to fund instructional coaching positions.
Select coaches with strong instructional skills and expertise in the content area they are coaching to work with and teach adult learners.
Hold coaches accountable for working strategically to improve instructional practice in the school and for dedicating a significant portion of their time to working with teachers in
Support all teachers in shifting their planning and pedagogy to fully adapt to the state standards through planning, assessment, and instructional execution.
Provide regular coaching and individual support to all teachers while implementing district and school expectations.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
Is there a formal plan for instructional coaching to improve student learning?
How is instructional coaching developed and used to improve student learning in your school?
To what extent is the instructional coaching monitored for improvement outcomes and instructional effectiveness of teachers?
What systems are in place to support effective instructional coaching? Are coaching observations and feedback taking place for the instructional coach?
To what extent are side-by-side coaching, modeling, planning sessions, classroom observations, and other coaching models taking place?
School leaders work with school staff to determine the professional development needs by looking at data on student learning and evidence from classroom observations and subsequent conversations.
Strategies and Suggestions
Form a professional learning committee to create, monitor, and adjust a yearlong professional learning calendar that targets the specific needs of the The calendar should define the roles and expected outcomes of all district, contracted, and site-based support services and should include specific procedures for communicating feedback to all providers.
Prioritize staff development needs on the basis of teacher feedback, student data, and administrative observations and analyses.
Establish a professional development plan that focuses on student achievement or acceleration, new learning for staff, consistent schoolwide implementation, and a collaborative system for teachers to plan instruction.
Design a system for eliciting teacher feedback about professional development opportunities to determine whether current opportunities are effective or further professional development is required.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
How are professional development needs determined and by whom? Have school leaders worked with school staff to determine those needs?
To what extent are student data and observation data used in selecting professional learning support?
After professional learning is completed, how often are new strategies implemented and monitored? Who is responsible for implementation and monitoring?
How are professional learning opportunities differentiated for classroom teachers?
To what extent is professional learning tiered to support individual teachers’ learning needs?
What impacts has professional learning had? Which data are used to determine the need for professional learning, and to what extent are the data revisited?
How often do teachers have opportunities to engage in reflection and refinement of practice?
Professional learning opportunities include, but are not limited to, schoolwide professional development activities, instructional coaching sessions, and formal and informal conversations with school leaders, and these opportunities emphasize delivering content that has connections to students’ own experiences.
Strategies and Suggestions
Provide professional learning that focuses on what students are experiencing through the learning environment and through the teacher’s instruction.
Provide professional learning that embraces the advantages of each student’s culture and its richness and helps students connect ideas. Shifting to this focus may require an intentional reorientation to the craft of teaching.
Ensure that teachers have collaborative time to discuss and create specific strategies that motivate and encourage interest and engagement.
Have teachers provide both context and relevance to subject content to support students in making connections to what they are learning.
Provide professional learning that builds on students’ prior knowledge and that includes various ways of assessing knowing as an instructional
Ensure that teachers have time to give authentic and meaningful feedback to each student.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
How have students’ learning needs been factored into decisions on professional learning?
To what extent are teachers able to connect content and relevance for students?
How motivated are students to engage in all areas of the content?
Professional learning opportunities—including, but not limited to, schoolwide professional development activities, instructional coaching sessions, and formal and informal conversations with school leaders—emphasize viewing students’ cultures and community identities as assets.
Strategies and Suggestions
Promote teachers’ use of effective instructional techniques that support connections to students’ prior experiences. Effective instruction for any student requires that the teacher respect and leverage the students’ social and cultural backgrounds.
Provide professional learning that examines the advantages of each student’s social construct and cultural identity and helps them connect This shift may require an intentional reorientation of the craft of teaching.
Provide training and support for all staff to understand their own and their students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds; avoid stereotyping of students based on assumptions about their family and cultural backgrounds; encourage a growth mindset that promotes academic growth and success for all students through effort, self-regulation, and persistence to mastery; and help integrate cultural and linguistic material into the curriculum.
Provide professional learning that builds on students’ prior knowledge as an instructional strategy.
Provide professional learning focused on collaboration between schools and communities to improve family engagement and connection between home and school cultures.
Create opportunities for staff, students, and families to connect; provide all staff with opportunities to view students’ cultures as sources of valuable skills, attitudes, and experiences.
Encourage a school climate in which teachers intentionally foster a sense of community among students in the classroom and with their families.
Provide professional learning on how culturally responsive educators can learn about, value, and center students’ identities by supporting students’ cultural pride, linguistic structures, cultural nuances, and discourse features.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
What practices are in place to ensure that student diversity and culture are viewed as positive assets by the school community?
Has viewing students’ cultures and communities as assets been included in professional learning sessions with teachers? How has this focus been demonstrated?
How are students’ cultures and communities included in curriculum, instruction, and school environment?
What connections has the school made to link instruction and practices to students’ cultures?
How has the school worked to build a robust instructional network for students and families?
Set clear performance expectations
Practice Description
Create and share expectations for a level of professional performance in every role in the system.
Develop and implement performance-management processes that include clear means for monitoring progress, the flexibility to rapidly respond to professional learning needs, and opportunities to revise milestones as needed.
School-Based Example
Define expectations for teachers, clearly and realistically considering how to effectively leverage teacher time and effort. Develop daily and weekly schedules that reflect this priority of effective use of teacher time. When asking more of a teacher, consider removing another responsibility.
Holding teachers and others accountable for achieving high levels of teaching and learning is extremely important to school leaders.
Strategies and Suggestions
Clearly articulate the most critical teacher actions in the Continue to communi- cate their importance throughout the school year through multiple methods.
Work with staff to identify teacher actions leading to and focusing on improvement in student outcomes.
Clearly articulate how classroom walk-throughs are scheduled and which teacher actions are the focus of walk-through observations.
After classroom walk-throughs, provide feedback that is aligned with the prioritized teacher practices.
Clearly articulate the implementation actions required of adults and schedule implementation Remember, for each strategy, there are two levels of accountability: Was the strategy implemented with fidelity and intentionality, and did the strategy lead to improvement in student outcomes?
Reflection Questions for Consideration
Who is accountable for setting clear performance expectations for staff? How do they determine those expectations? How is staff assessed or held accountable for achieving those performance expectations?
What tools, systems, and structures need to be established for leaders to maintain a balance of support with accountability at all levels? Do the tools, systems, and structures need to vary depending on the level (state, district, or school)?
School leaders schedule time to discuss formative assessment of students at least monthly.
Strategies and Suggestions
Give teachers regular opportunities to work with their peers in reviewing student work and discussing its implications for instructional design, academic rigor, and learner outcomes.
Facilitate discussions regarding the number of students improving their performance levels and those not improving. Use interventions as short-term rather than long- term strategies.
Examine lesson plans and provide teachers with feedback on the quality of their planning.
Build professional relationships with the teachers based on knowledge of the standards, curriculum, assessment, and instructional
As leaders, attend or lead all professional learning sessions to become the principal learners in the school.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
How much time is spent with grade-level teams to discuss student learning and strategies for instruction?
How much time is spent with grade-level teams to review formative and summative data and student work?
How is the purpose of these meetings communicated?
What are the expected outcomes from the meetings?
Is the time spent sufficient to reach the intended outcomes?
Are grade-level teams maximizing the amount of time for these discussions? If not, what support needs to be provided to ensure that these discussions result in better outcomes for students?
Formative feedback is provided to teachers. It includes specific, critical examples from teaching practices and provides meaningful suggestions on how to improve.
Strategies and Suggestions
Build a shared definition of effective teaching practice as a reference for ongoing conversations about improving teaching and learning.
Establish regular opportunities for teachers to receive feedback on their teaching practices.
Structure opportunities for ongoing conversations among teachers to continually define and redefine effective practice, review student work, and participate in peer observation and feedback.
Connect resources and support to concrete feedback, enabling teachers to act on feedback to improve teaching practice.
Examine school leader role expectations and assign formal responsibility for formative evaluation and feedback.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
What percentage of the leader’s time is spent on teaching and learning activities in a given school day? What system helps protect this time?
How often do visits to each classroom occur?
How often do teachers receive formative feedback?
Is there time regularly scheduled for talking with teachers about classroom practice?
What types of support do teachers receive to improve student learning?
Is the feedback that is given to teachers specific, and does it include examples of how to improve?
Formative feedback is provided to teachers. It includes meaningful suggestions on how to improve and specific, critical examples from teaching practices.
Strategies and Suggestions
Formative feedback given to teachers helps to inform and improve practice and creates opportunities that allow teachers to reflect.
Instructional coaching
Design training to build the capacity of the school by providing personalized support.
Have instructional coaches model effective practices and conversations about student work and learning data.
Walk-throughs
Target visits to multiple classrooms to get a sense of current teaching practices.
Focus on prioritized aspects of the instructional process and take notice of the degree to which the intended practice is visible in the classroom.
Peer observation visits and instructional rounds
Focus on providing feedback and building a culture of inquiry around particular improvement goals.
Organize visits to collect data on how goals are addressed from shared problems of practice.
Keep the focus on specific topics for instructional rounds that support schoolwide practices.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
Is the work of the instructional coach focused and clearly defined?
Is the majority of the coach’s time spent on formative feedback and continuous improvement for teachers?
Are walk-throughs used to make ongoing connections to conversations and goals around school improvement?
Are peer visits used to support the work of schoolwide practices that allow for further discourse?
Are resources and means available to support teachers’ practices and individual improvement?
Teachers report that meeting with school leaders to talk about teaching after a visit to their classroom or work site significantly improves their teaching.
Strategies and Suggestions
Engage in leadership work to create a learning community that includes formal evaluations as part of a comprehensive system for improving the capacity of schools to act on information that improves teaching and learning.
Use formal teacher observation data to set goals for both individual and schoolwide teacher practices.
Invest time for leaders to review the collective impact of all formal teacher evaluations to determine which teacher practices need the most improvement. These data may inform ongoing professional learning needs for the staff and targeted professional learning for groups of teachers. The feedback may allow educators to connect the impact with student outcomes.
Build teacher evaluation processes that use formal teacher observations (or similar) to emphasize school improvement priorities.
Reflection Questions for Consideration
How is the impact of formal observations measured? Has it been measured to show improvements in teaching?
To what extent does the school leadership believe in formal evaluations affecting and improving teaching? What evidence supports this impact? What resulting actions are taking place?
What messaging is shared with teachers about the purpose and potential of the process?
How are formal evaluations used in conjunction with informal observations to improve teacher practices? Describe this process.
The numbering system corresponds to the Four Domains framework and the numbering of items in the CALL surveys. in the example 1.2.30, the first number represents the domain (ex. Domain 1), the second number represents the practice (ex. Practice 2), and the third number represents the item number from the CALL survey that is most relevant to this practice item (ex. item 30).
