Center for School Turnaround & Improvement

Home About Us News & Events Contact Us Subscribe

School Transformation Academy

Planning & Management

School Transformation Academy

by

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

School Boards Driving Turnaround

by

Many schools are not preparing students for success in the 21st century. Far too many students are dropping out, and many of those who do graduate lack the key skills to succeed in college or the advanced economy. Successfully initiating, implementing, and sustaining the transformation of the lowest-performing public schools is a pressing challenge for policy leaders and practitioners nationwide. Public schools governed by elected local school boards are one of the cornerstones of our nation’s democracy, and local school boards sit at the junction of policy and effective implementation of targeted turnaround efforts. Yet ongoing efforts to improve public education focus primarily on the role of teachers, principals, and superintendents and, to a lesser extent, on state and federal policymakers. Missing from the work is a substantive role for local school boards.

In line with the Center on School Turnaround’s charge to support states’ efforts, we sought to highlight districts engaged in focused turnaround efforts where their respective boards played a key role in catalyzing, shaping, and supporting targeted improvement efforts. Our goal in developing these case studies was to present information-rich cases that can inform state and district efforts to optimize the board’s role in school turnaround. These case studies may be used independently, but they are designed to be part of a year-long training program for local school boards.

Purpose of the Project

All Local Education Agencies (LEAs) continuously manage two central processes: (1) the process by which the LEA itself improves; and (2) the way the LEA directs and supports the improvement of each of its schools. Many LEAs tackle a third task: facilitating turnaround in their lowest performing schools. Local school boards carry a huge responsibility in setting the policies that underlie LEA and school improvement processes and the LEA’s management of school turnaround. The Center on School Turnaround (CST) created this training to help a local school board build its own capacity to set effective policy on improvement and turnaround processes.

Objectives for the Project

The objectives for school boards using the CST School Board Training are to:

Phase I

  • Assess the school board’s areas of strength, inconsistency, and opportunity relative to its oversight of district improvement, school improvement, and turnaround.
  • Learn from the experience of other school boards by reading and discussing a report about school boards and two case studies.
  • Understand the CST’s Four Domains for Rapid Improvement and how this frameworks might provide a conceptual structure for district and school improvement processes.
  • Itemize possible “next steps” the board may take in response to the information and understandings acquired through the training.

Phase II

  • Option: Develop an action plan for strengthening the school board’s effectiveness in: (a) setting policies related to continuous district improvement, school improvement, and turnaround; (b) overseeing the implementation of these policies. Implement the action plan and monitor the progress for several months.

Getting Started

The first step is to confirm a State Partner’s (RCC, SEA, and/or school board association) relationship with the Center on School Turnaround. Then CST will provide a webinar and instructions for the State Partner to equip the Partner with necessary information and access to the online system to conduct the project with the school boards the Partner recruits for the project. The project may start at any time for a school board and begins simply with the naming of the Facilitator and the Facilitator’s enrollment with CST.

For a State Partner to get started, email one of the following:

Facilitator’s Portal

Facilitators of participating school boards may access the online web system by clicking HERE.

Required Reading

Moving Beyond the Killer-B’s: The Role of School Boards in School Accountability and Transformation

Successfully initiating and sustaining meaningful improvements in the lowest-performing public schools is a pressing challenge for policy leaders and practitioners nationwide. Local school boards sit at the intersection of policy and implementation of reform initiatives. Yet, ongoing efforts to improve public education focus primarily on the role of teachers, principals, and superintendents, as well as state and federal policymakers. Missing from this debate is a robust discussion or examination of the role of local school boards.

Four Domains for School Boards (see section below to download)

To support educators in creating such systems, the Center on School Turnaround at WestEd (CST) has developed a framework to assist states, districts, and schools in leading and managing rapid improvement efforts. The framework shares, in practical language, the critical practices of successful school turnaround in four domains, or areas of focus, that research and experience suggest are central to rapid and significant improvement: turnaround leadership, talent development, instructional transformation, and culture shift.

Case Studies

New Haven Public Schools & Wichita Public Schools

Testimonials

“We were very eager in Colorado to engage local boards of education in order to support their local efforts in improving schools. We are thrilled that three Colorado districts and boards are able to partner with the Center on School Turnaround for this reflective and productive training. We look forward to learning along with our districts in this process.”

— Peter Sherman, Executive Director, District and School Performance, Colorado Department of Education

“The Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 school board is leading a district engaged in whole system improvement efforts as well as targeted turnaround with several elementary schools. The board has requested deeper training on successful turnaround strategies, including the board role in supporting turnaround, as well as a deeper dive into local accountability systems and local turnaround efforts. The board is excited to be participating in the Center on School Turnaround Board Training and to have access to case studies and exemplars from other successful turnaround districts and boards.”

— Lori Haukeness, Superintendent, Montezuma-Cortez School District, Colorado

The Engagement Playbook: A Toolkit for Engaging Stakeholders Around the Four Domains of Rapid School Improvement

by

As researchers, decision-makers, and practitioners focus on continuous improvement in education, local-level change is gaining importance. Yet, many local school improvement efforts fail to be fully implemented. Even those that are fully implemented often fail to sustain improvements because the schools are embedded in systems that face multiple challenges. Can decision-makers and everyone who is responsible for implementing school improvement efforts come together to build a better, more sustainable approach to local improvement? This toolkit attempts to support such coming together by combining a powerful framework for school turnaround with a focus on the human side of change. The toolkit is built on the intersections between Leading by Convening, a blueprint for authentic engagement in school improvement developed by 50 national organizations and adopted by the National Center for Systemic Improvement, and the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement, a framework developed by the national Center on School Turnaround (CST).

Building the capacity of individuals working in schools, districts, and states to support reform efforts is critical. Also critical to sustainable and systemic school improvement efforts is ensuring that individuals across all levels of the system are engaged in reform. This document focuses on capacity and efforts to engage stakeholders across the system to support rapid improvement. In doing so, this toolkit is intended to support states, districts, and schools in their efforts to improve schools. This toolkit incorporates the Leading by Convening approach as a way to build capacity and engage stakeholders in the implementation of the Center on School Turnaround’s Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement. Readers of this toolkit may use it to build capacity across the domains.

Using Federal Education Formula Funds for School Turnaround Initiatives: Opportunities for State Education Agencies

by

SEAs play a critical role in helping districts and schools navigate federal grant rules and spend funds effectively. To support SEAs in fulfilling this role, this handbook presents the following information: Four strategies SEAs can use to create the conditions for maximizing ED formula grants for turnaround activities and an overview of how districts and schools can use Title I, Part A;3 Title II, Part A;4 and IDEA, Part B5 funds to support turnaround efforts.

Thought Leadership Forum Brief: Braiding Federal Funds Under ESSA

by

The Center on School Turnaround (CST) at WestEd is hosting a series of online Thought Leadership Forums for state education agency (SEA) officials who are members of the Leadership Council of the Network of State Turnaround and Improvement Leaders. The forums are intended to highlight the major considerations of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for students in chronically low-performing schools and explore how turnaround plans impact SEAs’ broader improvement efforts and ESSA implementation efforts.

The initial forum, held on December 19, 2016, focused on the definition and application of evidence-based criteria within the context of ESSA. The forum featured presentations from Sylvie Hale, Director of Program Development and Strategic Planning for WestEd’s Innovation Studies program, and Rebecca Herman, Senior Policy Researcher and Distinguished Chair in Education Policy at the RAND Corporation (RAND).

This brief summarizes the key ideas from the February 13 forum, offers recommendations to help SEA officials maximize the potential of federal funding, and lists the key resources shared.

New Mexico’s Public Education Department Turnaround Event Presentation Materials

by

Julie Corbett, Founder and President of CST Partner Corbett Education Consulting, LLC, presents at the New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) Principals Pursuing Excellence (PPE) Boot Camp. PPE is NMPED’s turnaround leadership development program targeted to school principals throughout the state. Julie brings her expertise in school and district education reform and turnaround to two PPE sessions.