Description
Efforts to improve outcomes for students in low-performing schools have been under way for decades, yet limited broad-scale improvements continue to frustrate families, school leaders and policymakers.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Emerging state
turnaround strategies
Stephanie Aragon and Emily Workman
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EDUCATION COMMISSION OF THE STATES | WWW.ECS.ORG
Efforts to improve outcomes for students in low-performing schools have been under way for decades, yet limited broad-scale
improvements continue to frustrate families, school leaders and policymakers. The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLB) of 2001 ushered in a new era of accountability, requiring states to publicly identify low-performing schools and take
action to improve them. This requirement highlighted inequities in education systems and spurred state initiatives to improve
student learning, raise graduation rates and reduce drop-out rates.
However, state leaders continue to find that these piecemeal reforms are taking years
to show results, if at all. Therefore, state leaders are eager to identify intensive and
innovative interventions that produce more immediate improvements in the academic
growth and achievement of students.
This brief provides information and available outcomes data for three school turnaround
strategies that are gaining attention and momentum: innovation zones, recovery
districts and receiverships. The report concludes with policy considerations that should
be integral to a strategic approach to turnaround efforts. A strategic approach requires
that states first conduct an internal assessment of the political landscape and structural
supports/barriers that exist in the state before implementing a turnaround strategy.
Innovation zones difer from takeover
districts and receiverships in that
they do not require states to remove
authority from the district.
States may want to conduct an initial
assessment of their political landscape and the
structural supports/barriers that exist in order
to determine the most efective approach to
implementing a statewide turnaround strategy.
Frustrated by limited results
from typical school restructuring
initiatives, states are looking
for turnaround strategies that
produce immediate, dramatic and
transformative changes.
Federal attempts to enhance
turnaround eforts through school
improvement grants (SIGs) have
been costly (totaling more than
$5.7 billion) and, aside from some
outliers, have produced meager
gains in student pro?ciency. One
in every three schools actually
performed worse after receiving
these funds.
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Turnaround strategies
Innovation zones
Often, attempts at improving low-performing schools are limited by the schools’
inability to work outside the con?nes of district and state policies. To address
these limitations and inspire reform, some states have created innovation zones
where struggling schools or districts are given the autonomy to experiment with
new stafng, scheduling, budget and curriculum arrangements.
3
The model itself,
featuring autonomy from many district and state policies, is similar to that of charter
schools, but innovation zones remain under the control of the local district.
Innovation zones have sprouted up in numerous districts and in various forms
across the country. In some states, innovation zones are being used to not only
help turn around low-performing schools, but also to grant already successful
schools with ?exibility to pursue personnel, budgeting and innovative learning
strategies that might serve their students more efectively. For the purposes of this
report, only zones focused on turnaround are discussed.
State examples
Indiana’s Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation
Indiana’s Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC) has become a
leader in utilizing innovation zone strategies. In 2009, the school district and
union leadership worked together to develop the EQUITY Framework, which gives
participating schools greater autonomy over things such as scheduling, school
calendars and professional development. The framework was originally piloted at
three district schools with positive results.
4
After one of EVSC’s underperforming schools received its sixth consecutive “F” letter grade, the district responded by expanding on the
framework in the pilot schools and creating a Transformation Zone. The State Board of Education voted in May 2014 to waive mandatory
state interventions, which can include state takeover, while the district imposed its own interventions on the school by including it in the
Transformation Zone.
5
The Transformation Zone’s success helped lead to the passage of HB 1638 in the 2015 legislative session. The legislation
makes a Transformation Zone a permissible State Board intervention for turning around chronically underperforming schools.
Tennessee’s Shelby County School District and Metro Nashville Public Schools
State law requires that priority schools, representing the bottom 5 percent of schools in overall achievement, be subject to one of three
intervention strategies, one of which is inclusion in a district innovation zone.
6
There are two major innovation zones in Tennessee. The Shelby
County School District (SCS), home to 50 of the state’s lowest-performing schools, created an innovation zone in the 2012-13 school year that
currently consists of 16 schools.
7
Innovation zone schools in Shelby County have received funding through the federal SIGs and autonomies are
focused particularly on variations in stafng to raise student achievement. Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) created an innovation zone
in 2011 that currently consists of 10 schools. In three of those schools, the district is piloting a unique approach to teaching that emphasizes
multi-classroom leadership that expands the reach of excellent teachers through a teacher leader model.
8
Massachusetts Spring?eld Empowerment Zone Partnership
A signature component of former Gov. Deval Patrick’s Achievement Gap Act of 2010 allowed Massachusetts to create innovation zones.
9
The
initiative, which began its ?rst year of operation in fall 2015, is already catching the attention of state leaders because of its unique school
membership, large scale, and state and district partnership. The ?rst innovation zone, known as the Empowerment Zone, consists of eight
low-achieving middle schools serving more than 4,400 students and is governed by a board of state and local appointees. It represents
a unique partnership between Spring?eld Public Schools, the Spring?eld Education Association and the Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education.
10
A turnaround strategy is an umbrella
term that includes takeovers.
A turnaround strategy is any approach that
emphasizes “dramatic and comprehensive
intervention in low-performing schools that
produces signi?cant gains in achievement
within two years and readies the school for the
longer process of transformation into a high-
performance organization.”
2
These interventions
can be implemented by a broad array of
stakeholders who, importantly, can include
those currently overseeing or teaching in a low-
performing school.
A takeover strategy is any approach where the
state removes control of a district or school(s)
from the local education agency (LEA) and turns
it over to the state education agency (SEA) or
receiver. Takeovers are the most aggressive form
of turnaround. The most important distinction is
the state’s role in removing control of a school or
district from an LEA.
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Recovery districts
In recovery districts, SEAs gain legal authority to take over their lowest-performing schools and assume the LEA functions for those schools.
Schools in these districts are united not by geographic proximity, but rather by their status as underperformers. The belief is that by grouping
schools in this way, states can more seamlessly implement comprehensive and aggressive reform strategies in schools facing similar
challenges. Recovery districts tend to have a governance system in which “high-quality” operators function in a charter-prevalent model.
Schools that are not run by charter operators are run instead by the state board or recovery district authority. Schools in these districts are
granted various autonomies but are held to high expectations for student growth and achievement.
Although in the 2014-15 school year, only Louisiana, Tennessee and Michigan had fully functioning recovery districts, the approach is catching
the attention of state leaders across the country and at least 11 additional states have considered or are in the process of making way for a
recovery district.
11
Of these, Nevada, Wisconsin and Georgia have made the most headway. Nevada and Wisconsin’s versions were signed
into law in the 2015 legislative session, and Georgia voters in 2016 will consider a constitutional amendment to allow the state to intervene in
chronically failing schools to improve student achievement. If approved, Georgia residents will pave the way for a state recovery district.
Brief summaries of the recovery districts currently in place are provided below and an in-depth analysis of each is provided in Nelson Smith’s
Rede?ning the School District in America, released in June 2015 by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
State examples
Louisiana’s Recovery School District
Louisiana was the ?rst state to pave the path for a recovery district. The Recovery School District (RSD) was established in 2003 to more
efectively address the needs of the state’s low-performing schools but came into full swing in the latter part of 2005 after Hurricane Katrina
devastated the Orleans Parish School District (OPSD). The RSD has evolved signi?cantly in the decade since Hurricane Katrina. Although
initially many of the schools were “direct-run schools” operated by the RSD, today all of the 57 schools in the district are charters.
12
Through
the citywide enrollment system One-App, parents in the RSD have unprecedented options for making choices about their children’s education,
regardless of their ZIP code or tax bracket. The RSD closes charter schools that fail to meet scheduled growth and achievement benchmarks.
Tennessee’s Achievement School District
Tennessee’s Achievement School District (ASD) was established by the state legislature in 2010 in response to the federal Race to the Top
(RTT) competition. Bolstered by RTT funds, the ASD has grown from six schools in 2012 to 29 schools in 2015. The ASD has evolved since its
initial inception. Although half of the district’s ?rst six schools were managed by the ASD, today less than 20 percent are directly run by the
ASD.
13
The ?ve ASD-operated schools are granted charter-like autonomy and are led by state-appointed school leaders and teacher teams.
14
The remaining 24 schools are operated by one of 14 charter operators that have been vetted by the ASD and a community-based advisory
council.
15
Although neighborhood assignments remain unchanged when a charter operator takes over a school, students are permitted to opt
out and enroll elsewhere, and outside students are permitted to ?ll vacant seats.
16
The district’s mission is to move the bottom 5 percent of
schools in the state to the top 25 percent in ?ve years.
17
Michigan’s Education Achievement Authority
The Education Achievement Authority (EAA) of Michigan was also created in response to the RTT competition. Although the state did not end
up receiving the federal grant, state leadership and substantial private funds helped prevent the efort from stalling, and in 2012 the district
took over 15 of Detroit’s lowest-performing schools. Though the district has and continues to seek quality charter operators for its schools,
today 12 of the district’s 15 schools are managed by the EAA, and only three are charter schools.
18
The EAA has established clear expectations for potential operators. The 2014 request for proposals set a target that “within three years of
operating a school, the EAA will challenge its turnaround and new school start-up partners to achieve results in the top 50 percent of schools
in Michigan.”
19
To date, internal setbacks have prevented the district from expanding inside Detroit, and legislative eforts to expand the
district outside of Detroit have failed.
20
Gov. Rick Snyder’s recent executive order, which moved the State School Reform Ofce to an ofce
that reports to him instead of the State Board of Education, may allow for the creation of a rede?ned statewide turnaround district.
21
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Receiverships
In receiverships, states gain legal authority to appoint a “receiver” for low-performing or ?nancially distressed schools or districts.
Receivership strategies difer from recovery district strategies because they do not require the creation of a new district. Authority over
existing districts or, in some cases, individual schools is vested in an individual who has been appointed as the receiver. The receiver is granted
all of the powers of a district superintendent and school board, although likely excluding ones to levy and raise taxes. The receiver determines
what entities to partner with to run schools, which may include charter-management organizations and teachers unions.
State examples
The success of a receivership is highly dependent on the turnaround strategy the receiver implements. Four years ago, Michigan turned two
districts over to receivership due to ?nancial instability. Because Public Act 4 of 2011 (recalled in late 2012) expanded the role of the receiver,
the receiver was granted authority not just over ?nances but also over the academic and educational plan for the school district. In these
two cases, the operations of the districts were turned over to for-pro?t education management organizations and few, if any, academic
improvements were cited. In 2014, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett placed the York County School District under receivership, yet
the receiver’s intention to turn the district into an all-charter school system under the management of a single education management
organization led to a ?ve-month legal battle ultimately overturning the takeover. Just this year, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo successfully
pushed for a receivership law re?ective of Massachusetts’ law.
22
Massachusetts’ Lawrence Public School District
A 2010 Massachusetts law requires that districts declared chronically underperforming by the State Board of Education be placed under
receivership. The law requires the receiver to be a non-pro?t entity or an individual with a demonstrated record of success in improving low-
performing schools or the academic performance of disadvantaged students.
23
In 2011, the Lawrence Public School District in Massachusetts
was placed into state receivership following years of poor academic achievement. Massachusetts’ Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester
turned the failing district over to Jefrey Riley, a former principal and chief innovation ofcer for Boston Public Schools. The turnaround efort
has been lauded for efectively maintaining a strong union-district relationship and creating a combination of charter-run and district-led
schools that meet the unique needs of the students.
24
Results and their limitatons
Some states have had strategies under way for long enough that student outcomes data have been produced, while other state strategies
are still too new to be evaluated. Available outcomes data for each strategy are provided in Appendix A. Generally, early evidence seems to
indicate that innovation zones, recovery districts and receiverships are leading or beginning to lead to student growth and achievement in
tested subjects. In some cases the strategies are also leading to improved student and/or parent satisfaction and high school graduation and
college attendance rates.
However, there are limitations to and critiques of these widely broadcasted results that should be considered prior to any attempts at
replication. For example, critics have argued that the outcomes data in Louisiana’s Recovery School District are skewed because of ?awed
and potentially biased data analysis, and critics also point to low state standards and still meager ACT scores as de?ating the “New
Orleans miracle.”
25
Groups such as the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools argue that because state takeovers often occur in districts with high
percentages of minorities, the strategy is reinforcing segregation, stripping African American and Latino voters of the right to control their
schools and placing this power in the hands of a fragmented governing system.
26
They also argue that state takeovers erode the connection
between public schools and neighborhoods and dismantle community-based institutions.
27
To these critics, “the impacts of takeovers go
beyond academic results,” and potentially negative efects on the community should be fully considered.
28
For these and other reasons, plans for state takeover are often met with heavy public resistance.
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Policy consideratons
Implementing a successful school or district turnaround strategy brings many challenges — ?nancial, political and logistical. The following list
includes policy considerations that leaders may want to explore before implementing any one turnaround strategy.
Funding. Making meaningful strides toward school improvement comes at a signi?cant cost. Some states have successfully initiated
turnaround eforts utilizing multiple funding streams that heavily rely on federal grants — RTT, SIGs and Investing in Innovation Grants (i3)
— and philanthropic donations. As these funding streams dry up, states and districts are struggling to come up with the additional funds
required to maintain turnaround eforts. Federal SIG funding for the Shelby County Innovation Zone in Tennessee, for example, is drying up
and the cash-strapped district has invested $7 million of its own scarce funds to keep the project moving. Although academic results have
been promising, the availability of funding for ongoing maintenance and expansion has been a source of major concern for the district until
recently, when it received a $10 million philanthropic grant.
29
Governance and oversight authority. Successful turnaround eforts depend on a governance structure that is prepared to drive, support
or sustain meaningful change. It is critical that a state conduct an evaluation to determine whether the SEA, LEA and boards of education
have the capacity to lead turnaround eforts. If the capacity does not exist within those traditional governance structures, policymakers must
determine who should ?ll that role.
Political landscape. State leaders must acknowledge the current political climate across the state and within each district. Policymakers
should consider whether there is a strong culture of local control, whether education clauses in their state’s constitution might impact the
state’s authority to implement takeovers, the role of teachers’ unions and whether the political climate is supportive of school choice.
Community engagement. Related to but separate from political climate, the ultimate success of a turnaround initiative in any given
community is highly dependent on buy-in from local residents. A school is often the bedrock of a community and those being most afected
by the change should be included in decision-making throughout the process. Leaders must also be aware of any cultural sensitivities that
may be present in the area. An Arkansas bill that would have created an achievement school district, for example, was pulled following
opposition from critics who asserted that the district would be a hit on hard-won civil rights in the state.
30
Data collection and evaluation. One of the most common questions state leaders ask about a policy issue is “what’s working?” States need
to be able to evaluate the success or failures of their own initiatives and share that information with policymakers in others states. Monitoring
and data are the critical building blocks of any efective school turnaround.
31
Condition, capacity, clustering. These three state responsibilities, identi?ed by Mass Insight’s School Turnaround Group, are considered
essential for school turnaround success.
32
The group argues that efective turnaround that will produce dramatic and transformative changes
requires special conditions that provide school leaders ?exibility to act outside of state and districts policies, opportunities for school leaders
to build and maximize leadership and staf capacity, and clustering of schools to encourage efcient use of resources, ease in replication of
successful models and the establishment of efective K-12 pathways through school-level feeder patterns.
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APPENDIX A
Some state strategies have been under way for enough years that outcomes data have been produced while other state strategies are still too
new to be evaluated. Information and available outcomes data for each strategy are provided below.
Innovation Zones
Indicators
Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation’s (EVSC)
Transformation Zone (Indiana)
2012-13
33
Shelby County Schools’ Innovation Zone
(Tennessee)
2013-14
34
Student Growth/
Achievement
? After its ?rst year, the district rose one full point on a four-
point scale — from a D to a C — the largest gain of any
district in the state.
? After the 2012-13 school year, EVSC made the largest gains in
student growth and was one of the state’s highest-performing
urban districts.
? On assessments predictive of Indiana’s state accountability
measure, Zone schools made larger gains than other similar
schools in the district.
? In March 2014, the Indiana State Board of Education ruled
that the interventions were “efective” and should be allowed
to continue. This marked the ?rst time the Indiana State
Board of Education declined either to take over a chronically
underperforming school or to mandate the district take some
other action.
? Though most iZone schools remain in “priority”
status for overall student achievement, since
becoming part of iZone, 11 of the now 16 schools
have shown double-digit gains in success rates.
Over a two-year period, math pro?ciency rates
more than doubled and reading pro?ciency rates
increased 6.8%, while science pro?ciency rates
showed a dramatic 27.5% increase.
? On average, students in iZone schools are
making superior achievement gains than
students in ASD schools. However, critics argue
this is because the ASD takes in new schools
each year, and that schools in the ASD for longer
periods have stronger results.
Recovery Districts
Indicators
Louisiana’s Recovery School
District (RSD)
2013-14
35
Tennessee’s Achievement School District
(ASD)
2014-15
36
Michigan’s Education
Achievement Authority (EAA)
2012-14
37
Student Growth/
Achievement
? Increase from 25% to 57% in
the number of students in
grades 3-8 scoring at “basic
and above” on state tests
since 2006, compared to an
increase from 50% to 69% in
the state.
? Increase from 3% to 12%
in the number of students
in grades 3-8 scoring at
“mastery and above” on state
tests since 2006, compared to
an increase from 16% to 24%,
in the state.
? Since 2012 pro?ciency on state math
assessments in grades 3-8 has increased
from 16.3% to 27% compared to 8.4% in the
state, and science pro?ciency has increased
from 16.5% to 26.5% compared to 4% in
the state. During the same period, reading
pro?ciency decreased from 18.1% to 13.8%
compared to 1.5% in the state.
? Students in the ASD’s high schools made
pro?ciency gains on end of course exams in
every subject. Pro?ciency gains for students
in these schools exceeded those for their
state peers in ?ve out of six subjects.
? Test results from spring 2013
showed early indications of
success.
? 64% of all students in the EAA
achieved a year or more of
growth in reading, and 58%
achieved growth of 1.5 years or
more.
? 68% of students achieved a year
or more of growth in math with
59% achieving growth of 1.5
years or more.
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Indicators
Louisiana’s Recovery School
District (RSD)
2013-14
35
Tennessee’s Achievement School District
(ASD)
2014-15
36
Michigan’s Education
Achievement Authority (EAA)
2012-14
37
Student Growth/
Achievement
(cont.)
? Increase from 13% to 47% in
the number of high school
students scoring “good” or
“pro?cient” on end of course
exams since 2008, compared
to an increase from 43% to
62% in the state.
? Charter takeovers in this
district appear to have
generated substantial
achievement gains for
the district’s highly
disadvantaged student
population.
? Every school in the ASD has a higher average
pro?ciency rate across math, reading and
science than it did prior to ASD interventions
began. The average composite pro?ciency
rate has grown from 14% in 2012 to 24%
in 2015.
38
Still, the percentage of scoring
pro?cient or advanced is far lower than in
Shelby County and the state.
? ASD schools in their second and third
years — the ?rst two “cohorts” of schools to
join the ASD — earned the state’s highest
possible growth rating, averaging a Level 5
on the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment
System.
? The ASD is serving as a “catalyst for change”
for other priority schools in the state.
? In more than 80% of the
schools, special education
students outperformed their
district counterparts in both
reading and math.
? Average ACT scores in 2013-14
were no better than average
scores in 2012-13.
Student and/
or Parent
Satisfaction
? Ranked ?rst among more
than 100 large school districts
nationwide on Brookings’
2014 Education Choice
and Competition Index,
which examines variation in
district-level choice based
on objective scoring of 13
categories of policy and
practice.
? 80% of students got one of
their top three school choices
in 2014.
? School culture and safety continues to
improve, with higher numbers of students
feeling safe (81%) and more students
reporting a positive school culture (83%).
? Most parents continue to grade their schools
an A or B. The parent satisfaction rate is 83%.
? The percentage of students
feeling mostly or very safe in
their classrooms increased from
56% to 64% between 2012-13
and 2013-14.
Graduation/
College
Attendance
? Of the students who
graduated from RSD schools
in 2014, 47% immediately
enrolled in college. Though
lagging behind the citywide
rate of 59%, it is a 4% increase
from the year before.
? Not yet available. ? Though graduation rates across
EAA’s six high schools declined
signi?cantly in their ?rst year
of takeover (from 64% to 54%),
there was recovery in the EAA’s
second year, reaching 62% in
2013-14.
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Receiverships
Indicators Lawrence Public Schools District (Massachusetts)
2014
39
Student Growth/ Achievement ? Student growth percentiles on state assessments increased signi?cantly in both English and
mathematics since 2012, with district schools up 9% in English and 17% in math.
? Math pro?ciency levels have reached historic highs, increasing by 13% since 2012. English language
arts pro?ciency levels are up 3 percentage points over that time.
? LPS has tripled the number of Level 1 schools in the district from two to six over two years. Level 1
is the state’s highest accountability and assistance level and designates schools that are meeting
performance targets.
Graduation/College Attendance ? The four-year cohort graduation rate increased to 61.3% in 2013 from 52.3% in 2011, and the dropout
rate declined from 8.6% in 2011 to 5.8% in 2013.
1 Alyson Klein, “School Improvement Grant Program Gets Mixed Grades in Ed. Dept. Analysis,” Education Week blog, November 21, 2013,http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2013/11/us_department_of_education_ana.html (accessed October 2015).
2 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, School Turnaround Models: Emerging Turnaround Strategies and Results (Boston, MA: Mass Insight
Education & Research Institute, June 2010), 4,http://www.massinsight.org/publications/stgresources/112/?le/1/pubs/2010/07/20/Turnaround_
Models_7_19_10.pdf (accessed October 2015).
3 Andrew Calkins et al., The Turnaround Challenge (Boston, MA: Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, 2007),http://www.massinsight.org/
publications/turnaround/51/?le/1/pubs/2010/04/15/TheTurnaroundChallenge_MainReport.pdf (accessed October 2015).
4 Charis Anderson, Evansville: A Proactive Approach to Improvement (Boston, MA: Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, May 2014), 2,http://www.massinsight.org/publicat...1/pubs/2014/05/23/Evansville-Mass-Insight.pdf (accessed October 2015).
5 Indiana State Board of Education, Business Meeting Minutes (Indianapolis, IN: Indiana State Board of Education, March 2014),http://www.in.gov/sboe/?les/2014-05-09_SBOE_Meeting_Minutes_03_12_14.pdf (accessed October 2015).
6 Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-1-602
7 Tennessee State Board of Education, State Identi?ed Reward, Priority and Focus Schools (Nashville, TN: Tennessee State Board of Education, August 2014),http://tn.gov/assets/entities/sbe/a...enti?ed_Reward_Priority_and_Focus_Schools.pdf (accessed October 2015).
8 Sharon Kebschull Barrett, Metropolitan Nashville’s Innovation Zone (Carrboro, NC: Public Impact, 2014), 1,http://opportunityculture.org/
wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Metropolitan_Nashvilles_Innovation_Zone_An_Opportunity_Culture_Case_Study-Public_Impact.pdf?utm_
content=jthomsen%40ecs.org&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=case%20study&utm (accessed October 2015).
9 Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. 71 § 92
10 The Spring?eld Empowerment Zone Partnership, About (Spring?eld, MA: Spring?eld Empowerment Zone),http://www.spring?eldempowerment.org/about (accessed October 2015).
11 Nelson Smith, “Turnaround School Districts,” EducationNext, April 1, 2015,http://educationnext.org/turnaround-school-districts (accessed October 2015).
12 Nelson Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America (Washington, D.C.: Thomas B. Fordham Institute, June 2015), 9,http://edex.s3-us-west-2.
amazonaws.com/publication/pdfs/Rede?ning%20the%20School%20District%20in%20America_Final.pdf (accessed October 2015).
13 Ibid., 13.
14 Sharon Kebschull Barrett, Christen Holly and Bryan C. Hassel, Extraordinary Authority Districts: Design Considerations-Frameworks and Takeaways
(Carrboro, NC: Public Impact, 2014), 5,http://publicimpact.com/web/wp-cont...rdinary_Authority_Districts-Public_Impact.pdf
(accessed October 2015).
15 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America, 13.
ENDNOTES
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16 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in Tennessee, 24.
17 Achievement School District, “About: Building the Possible,” Achievement School District website,http://achievementschooldistrict.org/about
(accessed October 2015).
18 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America, 15-17.
19 The Education Achievement Authority of Michigan, Request for Proposal Turnaround and New School Operators (Detroit, MI: Education Achievement
Authority of Michigan, December 2014), 3,http://www.michigan.gov/documents/eaa/RFP_Turnaround_and_New_School_Operators_477243_7.pdf
(accessed October 2015).
20 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America, 16.
21 Exec. Order No. 2015-9 (2015),http://www.michigan.gov/documents/snyder/EO_2015-9_483962_7.pdf (accessed October 2015).
22 S.B 2006, 2015 Reg. Session, (April 2015),http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_?d=&bn=SB+2006&term=&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Text=Y
(accessed October 2015).
23 Mass. Gen. Laws Ann 69 § 1K
24 Denisa Superville, “State Takeover Gives Mass. District a Fresh Start,” Education Week, May 5 2015,http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/05/06/
state-takeover-gives-mass-district-a-fresh.html?qs=receivership+inmeta
ub_year%3D2015.
25 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America, 10.
26 The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, Out of Control: The Systematic Disenfranchisement of African Americans and Latino Communities Through School
Takeovers (The Alliance to Reclaim our Schools, August 2015), 7-8,http://www.reclaimourschools.org/sites/default/?les/out-of-control-takeover-
report.pdf (accessed October 2015).
27 Ibid., 7.
28 Ibid., 8.
29 Daarel Burnette and Philissa Cramer, “Strong iZone scores viewed as chance to grow Shelby County’s turnaround initiative,” Chalkbeat, August 3, 2015,http://tn.chalkbeat.org/2015/08/03/...by-countys-turnaround-initiative/#.VhP7V?Vikp (accessed
October 2015).
30 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America, 20.
31 Laren Morando Rhim and Sam Redding, Introduction to the state role in school turnaround: Emerging best practice (San Francisco, CA: WestEd.), 15,http://centeronschoolturnaround.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Introduction_to_State_Role1.pdf (accessed October 2015).
32 Ibid., Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, 8.
APPENDIX ENDNOTES
33 Charis Anderson, Evansville: A Proactive Approach to Improvement (Boston, MA: Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, May 2014), 5,http://www.massinsight.org/publicat...1/pubs/2014/05/23/Evansville-Mass-Insight.pdf (accessed October 2015).
34 “Memphis School Guide,” Memphis School Guide website, 2015,http://memphisschoolguide.org/schools/??lter=true&?lter_
targetGradeLevel=ANY&?lter_type=Public%20iZone (accessed October 2015);
“iZone Schools Focus on Transformation Through Excellence,” Shelby County Schools Newsroom, April 2015,http://www.scsnewsroom.com/index.
php/2014-07-14-14-18-16/our-educators/item/270-izone-schools-focus-on-transformation-through-excellence (accessed October 2015);
Nelson Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America (Washington, D.C.: Thomas B. Fordham Institute, June 2015), 15,http://edex.s3-us-west-2.
amazonaws.com/publication/pdfs/Rede?ning%20the%20School%20District%20in%20America_Final.pdf (accessed October 2015).
35 Patrick Sims and Vincent Rossmeier, The State of Public Education in New Orleans 10 Years After Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans, LA: The Cowen
Institute for Public Education Initiatives, June 2015), 20,http://www.speno2015.com/images/SPENO.2015.small.single.pdf (accessed October 2015);
Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Joshua Angrist Peter Hull and Parag Pathag, Charters without Lotteries: Testing Takeovers in New Orleans and Boston (Germany,
Institute for the Study of Labor, April 2015), ftp://ftp.iza.org/RePEc/Discussionpaper/dp8985.pdf (accessed October 2015);
Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst, The 2014 Education Choice and Competition Index: Summary and Commentary (Washington, D.C.: Brown Center on
Education Policy, The Brookings Institution, February 2015), 2,http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/multimedia/interactives/2015/ecci/2014-ecci_
web_?nal.pdf (accessed October 2015);
Danielle Dreilinger, “Top New Orleans Public School Choices in OneApp are Edna Karr, Baby Ben,” The Times-Picayune, April 23, 2014,
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AUTHORS
Stephanie Aragon is a researcher with Education Commission of the States. Although in a previous life Stephanie enjoyed training for long distance races,
presently, she ?nds herself chasing after her always curious, always active son, Elijah. Contact Stephanie at [email protected] or (303) 299.3614.
Emily Workman is the manager of the K-12 Institute at Education Commission of the States. When she’s not hard at work, she loves partaking in nightly
dance parties with her husband and young son. Contact Emily at [email protected] or (303) 299.3655.
© 2015 by the Education Commission of the States. All rights reserved. Education Commission of the States encourages
its readers to share our information with others. To request permission to reprint or excerpt some of our material,
please contact us at (303) 299.3609 or e-mail [email protected].
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10http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2014/04/top_new_orleans_public_school.html (accessed October 2015);
Ibid., Smith, 11;
Danielle Dreilinger, “College-going Rate at New Orleans Schools Improves to 59 Percent,” The Times-Picayune, April 7, 2015,http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2015/04/new_orleans_school_college_rat.html (accessed October 2015).
36 “ASD Students Outpace State in Math and Science,” Achievement School District, July 2015,http://achievementschooldistrict.org/asd-third-year-
results (accessed October 2015);
Kayleigh Skinner and Sarah Glen, “Six Charts Showing Test Scores in Schools that Tennessee Wants to Turn Around,” Chalkbeat Tennessee, August 11, 2015),http://tn.chalkbeat.org/2015/08/11/...s-show-mixed-results-in-memphis/#.VgwspvlVikp (accessed October 2015);
Lauren Walker, “The ASD: A Catalyst for Dramatic Improvement,” Achievement School District, August 2015,http://achievementschooldistrict.org/catalyst-for-dramatic-improvement (accessed October 2015);
Achievement School District, Building the Possible: Year Three Results (Memphis, TN: Achievement School District, July 2015),http://achievementschooldistrict.or...2015/07/ASD-3rd-Year-Results-Presentation.pdf (accessed October 2015).
37 Education Achievement Authority, The Education Achievement Authority of Michigan – Getting Results! (Detroit, MI: Education Achievement Authority,
2013),http://www.michigan.gov/eaa/0,4841,7-281--316391--,00.html (accessed October 2015);
Ibid., Smith, 19.
38 Ibid., Walker.
39 Lawrence Public Schools, Key Facts: Lawrence Public Schools (Lawrence, MA: Lawrence Public Schools, January 2015),https://www.lawrence.k12.ma.us/about-lps/key-facts (accessed October 2015).
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Efforts to improve outcomes for students in low-performing schools have been under way for decades, yet limited broad-scale improvements continue to frustrate families, school leaders and policymakers.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Emerging state
turnaround strategies
Stephanie Aragon and Emily Workman
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Efforts to improve outcomes for students in low-performing schools have been under way for decades, yet limited broad-scale
improvements continue to frustrate families, school leaders and policymakers. The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLB) of 2001 ushered in a new era of accountability, requiring states to publicly identify low-performing schools and take
action to improve them. This requirement highlighted inequities in education systems and spurred state initiatives to improve
student learning, raise graduation rates and reduce drop-out rates.
However, state leaders continue to find that these piecemeal reforms are taking years
to show results, if at all. Therefore, state leaders are eager to identify intensive and
innovative interventions that produce more immediate improvements in the academic
growth and achievement of students.
This brief provides information and available outcomes data for three school turnaround
strategies that are gaining attention and momentum: innovation zones, recovery
districts and receiverships. The report concludes with policy considerations that should
be integral to a strategic approach to turnaround efforts. A strategic approach requires
that states first conduct an internal assessment of the political landscape and structural
supports/barriers that exist in the state before implementing a turnaround strategy.
Innovation zones difer from takeover
districts and receiverships in that
they do not require states to remove
authority from the district.
States may want to conduct an initial
assessment of their political landscape and the
structural supports/barriers that exist in order
to determine the most efective approach to
implementing a statewide turnaround strategy.
Frustrated by limited results
from typical school restructuring
initiatives, states are looking
for turnaround strategies that
produce immediate, dramatic and
transformative changes.
Federal attempts to enhance
turnaround eforts through school
improvement grants (SIGs) have
been costly (totaling more than
$5.7 billion) and, aside from some
outliers, have produced meager
gains in student pro?ciency. One
in every three schools actually
performed worse after receiving
these funds.
1
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2
Turnaround strategies
Innovation zones
Often, attempts at improving low-performing schools are limited by the schools’
inability to work outside the con?nes of district and state policies. To address
these limitations and inspire reform, some states have created innovation zones
where struggling schools or districts are given the autonomy to experiment with
new stafng, scheduling, budget and curriculum arrangements.
3
The model itself,
featuring autonomy from many district and state policies, is similar to that of charter
schools, but innovation zones remain under the control of the local district.
Innovation zones have sprouted up in numerous districts and in various forms
across the country. In some states, innovation zones are being used to not only
help turn around low-performing schools, but also to grant already successful
schools with ?exibility to pursue personnel, budgeting and innovative learning
strategies that might serve their students more efectively. For the purposes of this
report, only zones focused on turnaround are discussed.
State examples
Indiana’s Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation
Indiana’s Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation (EVSC) has become a
leader in utilizing innovation zone strategies. In 2009, the school district and
union leadership worked together to develop the EQUITY Framework, which gives
participating schools greater autonomy over things such as scheduling, school
calendars and professional development. The framework was originally piloted at
three district schools with positive results.
4
After one of EVSC’s underperforming schools received its sixth consecutive “F” letter grade, the district responded by expanding on the
framework in the pilot schools and creating a Transformation Zone. The State Board of Education voted in May 2014 to waive mandatory
state interventions, which can include state takeover, while the district imposed its own interventions on the school by including it in the
Transformation Zone.
5
The Transformation Zone’s success helped lead to the passage of HB 1638 in the 2015 legislative session. The legislation
makes a Transformation Zone a permissible State Board intervention for turning around chronically underperforming schools.
Tennessee’s Shelby County School District and Metro Nashville Public Schools
State law requires that priority schools, representing the bottom 5 percent of schools in overall achievement, be subject to one of three
intervention strategies, one of which is inclusion in a district innovation zone.
6
There are two major innovation zones in Tennessee. The Shelby
County School District (SCS), home to 50 of the state’s lowest-performing schools, created an innovation zone in the 2012-13 school year that
currently consists of 16 schools.
7
Innovation zone schools in Shelby County have received funding through the federal SIGs and autonomies are
focused particularly on variations in stafng to raise student achievement. Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) created an innovation zone
in 2011 that currently consists of 10 schools. In three of those schools, the district is piloting a unique approach to teaching that emphasizes
multi-classroom leadership that expands the reach of excellent teachers through a teacher leader model.
8
Massachusetts Spring?eld Empowerment Zone Partnership
A signature component of former Gov. Deval Patrick’s Achievement Gap Act of 2010 allowed Massachusetts to create innovation zones.
9
The
initiative, which began its ?rst year of operation in fall 2015, is already catching the attention of state leaders because of its unique school
membership, large scale, and state and district partnership. The ?rst innovation zone, known as the Empowerment Zone, consists of eight
low-achieving middle schools serving more than 4,400 students and is governed by a board of state and local appointees. It represents
a unique partnership between Spring?eld Public Schools, the Spring?eld Education Association and the Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education.
10
A turnaround strategy is an umbrella
term that includes takeovers.
A turnaround strategy is any approach that
emphasizes “dramatic and comprehensive
intervention in low-performing schools that
produces signi?cant gains in achievement
within two years and readies the school for the
longer process of transformation into a high-
performance organization.”
2
These interventions
can be implemented by a broad array of
stakeholders who, importantly, can include
those currently overseeing or teaching in a low-
performing school.
A takeover strategy is any approach where the
state removes control of a district or school(s)
from the local education agency (LEA) and turns
it over to the state education agency (SEA) or
receiver. Takeovers are the most aggressive form
of turnaround. The most important distinction is
the state’s role in removing control of a school or
district from an LEA.
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3
Recovery districts
In recovery districts, SEAs gain legal authority to take over their lowest-performing schools and assume the LEA functions for those schools.
Schools in these districts are united not by geographic proximity, but rather by their status as underperformers. The belief is that by grouping
schools in this way, states can more seamlessly implement comprehensive and aggressive reform strategies in schools facing similar
challenges. Recovery districts tend to have a governance system in which “high-quality” operators function in a charter-prevalent model.
Schools that are not run by charter operators are run instead by the state board or recovery district authority. Schools in these districts are
granted various autonomies but are held to high expectations for student growth and achievement.
Although in the 2014-15 school year, only Louisiana, Tennessee and Michigan had fully functioning recovery districts, the approach is catching
the attention of state leaders across the country and at least 11 additional states have considered or are in the process of making way for a
recovery district.
11
Of these, Nevada, Wisconsin and Georgia have made the most headway. Nevada and Wisconsin’s versions were signed
into law in the 2015 legislative session, and Georgia voters in 2016 will consider a constitutional amendment to allow the state to intervene in
chronically failing schools to improve student achievement. If approved, Georgia residents will pave the way for a state recovery district.
Brief summaries of the recovery districts currently in place are provided below and an in-depth analysis of each is provided in Nelson Smith’s
Rede?ning the School District in America, released in June 2015 by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
State examples
Louisiana’s Recovery School District
Louisiana was the ?rst state to pave the path for a recovery district. The Recovery School District (RSD) was established in 2003 to more
efectively address the needs of the state’s low-performing schools but came into full swing in the latter part of 2005 after Hurricane Katrina
devastated the Orleans Parish School District (OPSD). The RSD has evolved signi?cantly in the decade since Hurricane Katrina. Although
initially many of the schools were “direct-run schools” operated by the RSD, today all of the 57 schools in the district are charters.
12
Through
the citywide enrollment system One-App, parents in the RSD have unprecedented options for making choices about their children’s education,
regardless of their ZIP code or tax bracket. The RSD closes charter schools that fail to meet scheduled growth and achievement benchmarks.
Tennessee’s Achievement School District
Tennessee’s Achievement School District (ASD) was established by the state legislature in 2010 in response to the federal Race to the Top
(RTT) competition. Bolstered by RTT funds, the ASD has grown from six schools in 2012 to 29 schools in 2015. The ASD has evolved since its
initial inception. Although half of the district’s ?rst six schools were managed by the ASD, today less than 20 percent are directly run by the
ASD.
13
The ?ve ASD-operated schools are granted charter-like autonomy and are led by state-appointed school leaders and teacher teams.
14
The remaining 24 schools are operated by one of 14 charter operators that have been vetted by the ASD and a community-based advisory
council.
15
Although neighborhood assignments remain unchanged when a charter operator takes over a school, students are permitted to opt
out and enroll elsewhere, and outside students are permitted to ?ll vacant seats.
16
The district’s mission is to move the bottom 5 percent of
schools in the state to the top 25 percent in ?ve years.
17
Michigan’s Education Achievement Authority
The Education Achievement Authority (EAA) of Michigan was also created in response to the RTT competition. Although the state did not end
up receiving the federal grant, state leadership and substantial private funds helped prevent the efort from stalling, and in 2012 the district
took over 15 of Detroit’s lowest-performing schools. Though the district has and continues to seek quality charter operators for its schools,
today 12 of the district’s 15 schools are managed by the EAA, and only three are charter schools.
18
The EAA has established clear expectations for potential operators. The 2014 request for proposals set a target that “within three years of
operating a school, the EAA will challenge its turnaround and new school start-up partners to achieve results in the top 50 percent of schools
in Michigan.”
19
To date, internal setbacks have prevented the district from expanding inside Detroit, and legislative eforts to expand the
district outside of Detroit have failed.
20
Gov. Rick Snyder’s recent executive order, which moved the State School Reform Ofce to an ofce
that reports to him instead of the State Board of Education, may allow for the creation of a rede?ned statewide turnaround district.
21
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Receiverships
In receiverships, states gain legal authority to appoint a “receiver” for low-performing or ?nancially distressed schools or districts.
Receivership strategies difer from recovery district strategies because they do not require the creation of a new district. Authority over
existing districts or, in some cases, individual schools is vested in an individual who has been appointed as the receiver. The receiver is granted
all of the powers of a district superintendent and school board, although likely excluding ones to levy and raise taxes. The receiver determines
what entities to partner with to run schools, which may include charter-management organizations and teachers unions.
State examples
The success of a receivership is highly dependent on the turnaround strategy the receiver implements. Four years ago, Michigan turned two
districts over to receivership due to ?nancial instability. Because Public Act 4 of 2011 (recalled in late 2012) expanded the role of the receiver,
the receiver was granted authority not just over ?nances but also over the academic and educational plan for the school district. In these
two cases, the operations of the districts were turned over to for-pro?t education management organizations and few, if any, academic
improvements were cited. In 2014, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett placed the York County School District under receivership, yet
the receiver’s intention to turn the district into an all-charter school system under the management of a single education management
organization led to a ?ve-month legal battle ultimately overturning the takeover. Just this year, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo successfully
pushed for a receivership law re?ective of Massachusetts’ law.
22
Massachusetts’ Lawrence Public School District
A 2010 Massachusetts law requires that districts declared chronically underperforming by the State Board of Education be placed under
receivership. The law requires the receiver to be a non-pro?t entity or an individual with a demonstrated record of success in improving low-
performing schools or the academic performance of disadvantaged students.
23
In 2011, the Lawrence Public School District in Massachusetts
was placed into state receivership following years of poor academic achievement. Massachusetts’ Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester
turned the failing district over to Jefrey Riley, a former principal and chief innovation ofcer for Boston Public Schools. The turnaround efort
has been lauded for efectively maintaining a strong union-district relationship and creating a combination of charter-run and district-led
schools that meet the unique needs of the students.
24
Results and their limitatons
Some states have had strategies under way for long enough that student outcomes data have been produced, while other state strategies
are still too new to be evaluated. Available outcomes data for each strategy are provided in Appendix A. Generally, early evidence seems to
indicate that innovation zones, recovery districts and receiverships are leading or beginning to lead to student growth and achievement in
tested subjects. In some cases the strategies are also leading to improved student and/or parent satisfaction and high school graduation and
college attendance rates.
However, there are limitations to and critiques of these widely broadcasted results that should be considered prior to any attempts at
replication. For example, critics have argued that the outcomes data in Louisiana’s Recovery School District are skewed because of ?awed
and potentially biased data analysis, and critics also point to low state standards and still meager ACT scores as de?ating the “New
Orleans miracle.”
25
Groups such as the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools argue that because state takeovers often occur in districts with high
percentages of minorities, the strategy is reinforcing segregation, stripping African American and Latino voters of the right to control their
schools and placing this power in the hands of a fragmented governing system.
26
They also argue that state takeovers erode the connection
between public schools and neighborhoods and dismantle community-based institutions.
27
To these critics, “the impacts of takeovers go
beyond academic results,” and potentially negative efects on the community should be fully considered.
28
For these and other reasons, plans for state takeover are often met with heavy public resistance.
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5
Policy consideratons
Implementing a successful school or district turnaround strategy brings many challenges — ?nancial, political and logistical. The following list
includes policy considerations that leaders may want to explore before implementing any one turnaround strategy.
Funding. Making meaningful strides toward school improvement comes at a signi?cant cost. Some states have successfully initiated
turnaround eforts utilizing multiple funding streams that heavily rely on federal grants — RTT, SIGs and Investing in Innovation Grants (i3)
— and philanthropic donations. As these funding streams dry up, states and districts are struggling to come up with the additional funds
required to maintain turnaround eforts. Federal SIG funding for the Shelby County Innovation Zone in Tennessee, for example, is drying up
and the cash-strapped district has invested $7 million of its own scarce funds to keep the project moving. Although academic results have
been promising, the availability of funding for ongoing maintenance and expansion has been a source of major concern for the district until
recently, when it received a $10 million philanthropic grant.
29
Governance and oversight authority. Successful turnaround eforts depend on a governance structure that is prepared to drive, support
or sustain meaningful change. It is critical that a state conduct an evaluation to determine whether the SEA, LEA and boards of education
have the capacity to lead turnaround eforts. If the capacity does not exist within those traditional governance structures, policymakers must
determine who should ?ll that role.
Political landscape. State leaders must acknowledge the current political climate across the state and within each district. Policymakers
should consider whether there is a strong culture of local control, whether education clauses in their state’s constitution might impact the
state’s authority to implement takeovers, the role of teachers’ unions and whether the political climate is supportive of school choice.
Community engagement. Related to but separate from political climate, the ultimate success of a turnaround initiative in any given
community is highly dependent on buy-in from local residents. A school is often the bedrock of a community and those being most afected
by the change should be included in decision-making throughout the process. Leaders must also be aware of any cultural sensitivities that
may be present in the area. An Arkansas bill that would have created an achievement school district, for example, was pulled following
opposition from critics who asserted that the district would be a hit on hard-won civil rights in the state.
30
Data collection and evaluation. One of the most common questions state leaders ask about a policy issue is “what’s working?” States need
to be able to evaluate the success or failures of their own initiatives and share that information with policymakers in others states. Monitoring
and data are the critical building blocks of any efective school turnaround.
31
Condition, capacity, clustering. These three state responsibilities, identi?ed by Mass Insight’s School Turnaround Group, are considered
essential for school turnaround success.
32
The group argues that efective turnaround that will produce dramatic and transformative changes
requires special conditions that provide school leaders ?exibility to act outside of state and districts policies, opportunities for school leaders
to build and maximize leadership and staf capacity, and clustering of schools to encourage efcient use of resources, ease in replication of
successful models and the establishment of efective K-12 pathways through school-level feeder patterns.
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6
APPENDIX A
Some state strategies have been under way for enough years that outcomes data have been produced while other state strategies are still too
new to be evaluated. Information and available outcomes data for each strategy are provided below.
Innovation Zones
Indicators
Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation’s (EVSC)
Transformation Zone (Indiana)
2012-13
33
Shelby County Schools’ Innovation Zone
(Tennessee)
2013-14
34
Student Growth/
Achievement
? After its ?rst year, the district rose one full point on a four-
point scale — from a D to a C — the largest gain of any
district in the state.
? After the 2012-13 school year, EVSC made the largest gains in
student growth and was one of the state’s highest-performing
urban districts.
? On assessments predictive of Indiana’s state accountability
measure, Zone schools made larger gains than other similar
schools in the district.
? In March 2014, the Indiana State Board of Education ruled
that the interventions were “efective” and should be allowed
to continue. This marked the ?rst time the Indiana State
Board of Education declined either to take over a chronically
underperforming school or to mandate the district take some
other action.
? Though most iZone schools remain in “priority”
status for overall student achievement, since
becoming part of iZone, 11 of the now 16 schools
have shown double-digit gains in success rates.
Over a two-year period, math pro?ciency rates
more than doubled and reading pro?ciency rates
increased 6.8%, while science pro?ciency rates
showed a dramatic 27.5% increase.
? On average, students in iZone schools are
making superior achievement gains than
students in ASD schools. However, critics argue
this is because the ASD takes in new schools
each year, and that schools in the ASD for longer
periods have stronger results.
Recovery Districts
Indicators
Louisiana’s Recovery School
District (RSD)
2013-14
35
Tennessee’s Achievement School District
(ASD)
2014-15
36
Michigan’s Education
Achievement Authority (EAA)
2012-14
37
Student Growth/
Achievement
? Increase from 25% to 57% in
the number of students in
grades 3-8 scoring at “basic
and above” on state tests
since 2006, compared to an
increase from 50% to 69% in
the state.
? Increase from 3% to 12%
in the number of students
in grades 3-8 scoring at
“mastery and above” on state
tests since 2006, compared to
an increase from 16% to 24%,
in the state.
? Since 2012 pro?ciency on state math
assessments in grades 3-8 has increased
from 16.3% to 27% compared to 8.4% in the
state, and science pro?ciency has increased
from 16.5% to 26.5% compared to 4% in
the state. During the same period, reading
pro?ciency decreased from 18.1% to 13.8%
compared to 1.5% in the state.
? Students in the ASD’s high schools made
pro?ciency gains on end of course exams in
every subject. Pro?ciency gains for students
in these schools exceeded those for their
state peers in ?ve out of six subjects.
? Test results from spring 2013
showed early indications of
success.
? 64% of all students in the EAA
achieved a year or more of
growth in reading, and 58%
achieved growth of 1.5 years or
more.
? 68% of students achieved a year
or more of growth in math with
59% achieving growth of 1.5
years or more.
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7
Indicators
Louisiana’s Recovery School
District (RSD)
2013-14
35
Tennessee’s Achievement School District
(ASD)
2014-15
36
Michigan’s Education
Achievement Authority (EAA)
2012-14
37
Student Growth/
Achievement
(cont.)
? Increase from 13% to 47% in
the number of high school
students scoring “good” or
“pro?cient” on end of course
exams since 2008, compared
to an increase from 43% to
62% in the state.
? Charter takeovers in this
district appear to have
generated substantial
achievement gains for
the district’s highly
disadvantaged student
population.
? Every school in the ASD has a higher average
pro?ciency rate across math, reading and
science than it did prior to ASD interventions
began. The average composite pro?ciency
rate has grown from 14% in 2012 to 24%
in 2015.
38
Still, the percentage of scoring
pro?cient or advanced is far lower than in
Shelby County and the state.
? ASD schools in their second and third
years — the ?rst two “cohorts” of schools to
join the ASD — earned the state’s highest
possible growth rating, averaging a Level 5
on the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment
System.
? The ASD is serving as a “catalyst for change”
for other priority schools in the state.
? In more than 80% of the
schools, special education
students outperformed their
district counterparts in both
reading and math.
? Average ACT scores in 2013-14
were no better than average
scores in 2012-13.
Student and/
or Parent
Satisfaction
? Ranked ?rst among more
than 100 large school districts
nationwide on Brookings’
2014 Education Choice
and Competition Index,
which examines variation in
district-level choice based
on objective scoring of 13
categories of policy and
practice.
? 80% of students got one of
their top three school choices
in 2014.
? School culture and safety continues to
improve, with higher numbers of students
feeling safe (81%) and more students
reporting a positive school culture (83%).
? Most parents continue to grade their schools
an A or B. The parent satisfaction rate is 83%.
? The percentage of students
feeling mostly or very safe in
their classrooms increased from
56% to 64% between 2012-13
and 2013-14.
Graduation/
College
Attendance
? Of the students who
graduated from RSD schools
in 2014, 47% immediately
enrolled in college. Though
lagging behind the citywide
rate of 59%, it is a 4% increase
from the year before.
? Not yet available. ? Though graduation rates across
EAA’s six high schools declined
signi?cantly in their ?rst year
of takeover (from 64% to 54%),
there was recovery in the EAA’s
second year, reaching 62% in
2013-14.
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8
Receiverships
Indicators Lawrence Public Schools District (Massachusetts)
2014
39
Student Growth/ Achievement ? Student growth percentiles on state assessments increased signi?cantly in both English and
mathematics since 2012, with district schools up 9% in English and 17% in math.
? Math pro?ciency levels have reached historic highs, increasing by 13% since 2012. English language
arts pro?ciency levels are up 3 percentage points over that time.
? LPS has tripled the number of Level 1 schools in the district from two to six over two years. Level 1
is the state’s highest accountability and assistance level and designates schools that are meeting
performance targets.
Graduation/College Attendance ? The four-year cohort graduation rate increased to 61.3% in 2013 from 52.3% in 2011, and the dropout
rate declined from 8.6% in 2011 to 5.8% in 2013.
1 Alyson Klein, “School Improvement Grant Program Gets Mixed Grades in Ed. Dept. Analysis,” Education Week blog, November 21, 2013,http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2013/11/us_department_of_education_ana.html (accessed October 2015).
2 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, School Turnaround Models: Emerging Turnaround Strategies and Results (Boston, MA: Mass Insight
Education & Research Institute, June 2010), 4,http://www.massinsight.org/publications/stgresources/112/?le/1/pubs/2010/07/20/Turnaround_
Models_7_19_10.pdf (accessed October 2015).
3 Andrew Calkins et al., The Turnaround Challenge (Boston, MA: Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, 2007),http://www.massinsight.org/
publications/turnaround/51/?le/1/pubs/2010/04/15/TheTurnaroundChallenge_MainReport.pdf (accessed October 2015).
4 Charis Anderson, Evansville: A Proactive Approach to Improvement (Boston, MA: Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, May 2014), 2,http://www.massinsight.org/publicat...1/pubs/2014/05/23/Evansville-Mass-Insight.pdf (accessed October 2015).
5 Indiana State Board of Education, Business Meeting Minutes (Indianapolis, IN: Indiana State Board of Education, March 2014),http://www.in.gov/sboe/?les/2014-05-09_SBOE_Meeting_Minutes_03_12_14.pdf (accessed October 2015).
6 Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-1-602
7 Tennessee State Board of Education, State Identi?ed Reward, Priority and Focus Schools (Nashville, TN: Tennessee State Board of Education, August 2014),http://tn.gov/assets/entities/sbe/a...enti?ed_Reward_Priority_and_Focus_Schools.pdf (accessed October 2015).
8 Sharon Kebschull Barrett, Metropolitan Nashville’s Innovation Zone (Carrboro, NC: Public Impact, 2014), 1,http://opportunityculture.org/
wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Metropolitan_Nashvilles_Innovation_Zone_An_Opportunity_Culture_Case_Study-Public_Impact.pdf?utm_
content=jthomsen%40ecs.org&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=case%20study&utm (accessed October 2015).
9 Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. 71 § 92
10 The Spring?eld Empowerment Zone Partnership, About (Spring?eld, MA: Spring?eld Empowerment Zone),http://www.spring?eldempowerment.org/about (accessed October 2015).
11 Nelson Smith, “Turnaround School Districts,” EducationNext, April 1, 2015,http://educationnext.org/turnaround-school-districts (accessed October 2015).
12 Nelson Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America (Washington, D.C.: Thomas B. Fordham Institute, June 2015), 9,http://edex.s3-us-west-2.
amazonaws.com/publication/pdfs/Rede?ning%20the%20School%20District%20in%20America_Final.pdf (accessed October 2015).
13 Ibid., 13.
14 Sharon Kebschull Barrett, Christen Holly and Bryan C. Hassel, Extraordinary Authority Districts: Design Considerations-Frameworks and Takeaways
(Carrboro, NC: Public Impact, 2014), 5,http://publicimpact.com/web/wp-cont...rdinary_Authority_Districts-Public_Impact.pdf
(accessed October 2015).
15 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America, 13.
ENDNOTES
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9
16 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in Tennessee, 24.
17 Achievement School District, “About: Building the Possible,” Achievement School District website,http://achievementschooldistrict.org/about
(accessed October 2015).
18 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America, 15-17.
19 The Education Achievement Authority of Michigan, Request for Proposal Turnaround and New School Operators (Detroit, MI: Education Achievement
Authority of Michigan, December 2014), 3,http://www.michigan.gov/documents/eaa/RFP_Turnaround_and_New_School_Operators_477243_7.pdf
(accessed October 2015).
20 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America, 16.
21 Exec. Order No. 2015-9 (2015),http://www.michigan.gov/documents/snyder/EO_2015-9_483962_7.pdf (accessed October 2015).
22 S.B 2006, 2015 Reg. Session, (April 2015),http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_?d=&bn=SB+2006&term=&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Text=Y
(accessed October 2015).
23 Mass. Gen. Laws Ann 69 § 1K
24 Denisa Superville, “State Takeover Gives Mass. District a Fresh Start,” Education Week, May 5 2015,http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/05/06/
state-takeover-gives-mass-district-a-fresh.html?qs=receivership+inmeta
ub_year%3D2015.25 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America, 10.
26 The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, Out of Control: The Systematic Disenfranchisement of African Americans and Latino Communities Through School
Takeovers (The Alliance to Reclaim our Schools, August 2015), 7-8,http://www.reclaimourschools.org/sites/default/?les/out-of-control-takeover-
report.pdf (accessed October 2015).
27 Ibid., 7.
28 Ibid., 8.
29 Daarel Burnette and Philissa Cramer, “Strong iZone scores viewed as chance to grow Shelby County’s turnaround initiative,” Chalkbeat, August 3, 2015,http://tn.chalkbeat.org/2015/08/03/...by-countys-turnaround-initiative/#.VhP7V?Vikp (accessed
October 2015).
30 Ibid., Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America, 20.
31 Laren Morando Rhim and Sam Redding, Introduction to the state role in school turnaround: Emerging best practice (San Francisco, CA: WestEd.), 15,http://centeronschoolturnaround.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Introduction_to_State_Role1.pdf (accessed October 2015).
32 Ibid., Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, 8.
APPENDIX ENDNOTES
33 Charis Anderson, Evansville: A Proactive Approach to Improvement (Boston, MA: Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, May 2014), 5,http://www.massinsight.org/publicat...1/pubs/2014/05/23/Evansville-Mass-Insight.pdf (accessed October 2015).
34 “Memphis School Guide,” Memphis School Guide website, 2015,http://memphisschoolguide.org/schools/??lter=true&?lter_
targetGradeLevel=ANY&?lter_type=Public%20iZone (accessed October 2015);
“iZone Schools Focus on Transformation Through Excellence,” Shelby County Schools Newsroom, April 2015,http://www.scsnewsroom.com/index.
php/2014-07-14-14-18-16/our-educators/item/270-izone-schools-focus-on-transformation-through-excellence (accessed October 2015);
Nelson Smith, Rede?ning the School District in America (Washington, D.C.: Thomas B. Fordham Institute, June 2015), 15,http://edex.s3-us-west-2.
amazonaws.com/publication/pdfs/Rede?ning%20the%20School%20District%20in%20America_Final.pdf (accessed October 2015).
35 Patrick Sims and Vincent Rossmeier, The State of Public Education in New Orleans 10 Years After Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans, LA: The Cowen
Institute for Public Education Initiatives, June 2015), 20,http://www.speno2015.com/images/SPENO.2015.small.single.pdf (accessed October 2015);
Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Joshua Angrist Peter Hull and Parag Pathag, Charters without Lotteries: Testing Takeovers in New Orleans and Boston (Germany,
Institute for the Study of Labor, April 2015), ftp://ftp.iza.org/RePEc/Discussionpaper/dp8985.pdf (accessed October 2015);
Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst, The 2014 Education Choice and Competition Index: Summary and Commentary (Washington, D.C.: Brown Center on
Education Policy, The Brookings Institution, February 2015), 2,http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/multimedia/interactives/2015/ecci/2014-ecci_
web_?nal.pdf (accessed October 2015);
Danielle Dreilinger, “Top New Orleans Public School Choices in OneApp are Edna Karr, Baby Ben,” The Times-Picayune, April 23, 2014,
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AUTHORS
Stephanie Aragon is a researcher with Education Commission of the States. Although in a previous life Stephanie enjoyed training for long distance races,
presently, she ?nds herself chasing after her always curious, always active son, Elijah. Contact Stephanie at [email protected] or (303) 299.3614.
Emily Workman is the manager of the K-12 Institute at Education Commission of the States. When she’s not hard at work, she loves partaking in nightly
dance parties with her husband and young son. Contact Emily at [email protected] or (303) 299.3655.
© 2015 by the Education Commission of the States. All rights reserved. Education Commission of the States encourages
its readers to share our information with others. To request permission to reprint or excerpt some of our material,
please contact us at (303) 299.3609 or e-mail [email protected].
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10http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2014/04/top_new_orleans_public_school.html (accessed October 2015);
Ibid., Smith, 11;
Danielle Dreilinger, “College-going Rate at New Orleans Schools Improves to 59 Percent,” The Times-Picayune, April 7, 2015,http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2015/04/new_orleans_school_college_rat.html (accessed October 2015).
36 “ASD Students Outpace State in Math and Science,” Achievement School District, July 2015,http://achievementschooldistrict.org/asd-third-year-
results (accessed October 2015);
Kayleigh Skinner and Sarah Glen, “Six Charts Showing Test Scores in Schools that Tennessee Wants to Turn Around,” Chalkbeat Tennessee, August 11, 2015),http://tn.chalkbeat.org/2015/08/11/...s-show-mixed-results-in-memphis/#.VgwspvlVikp (accessed October 2015);
Lauren Walker, “The ASD: A Catalyst for Dramatic Improvement,” Achievement School District, August 2015,http://achievementschooldistrict.org/catalyst-for-dramatic-improvement (accessed October 2015);
Achievement School District, Building the Possible: Year Three Results (Memphis, TN: Achievement School District, July 2015),http://achievementschooldistrict.or...2015/07/ASD-3rd-Year-Results-Presentation.pdf (accessed October 2015).
37 Education Achievement Authority, The Education Achievement Authority of Michigan – Getting Results! (Detroit, MI: Education Achievement Authority,
2013),http://www.michigan.gov/eaa/0,4841,7-281--316391--,00.html (accessed October 2015);
Ibid., Smith, 19.
38 Ibid., Walker.
39 Lawrence Public Schools, Key Facts: Lawrence Public Schools (Lawrence, MA: Lawrence Public Schools, January 2015),https://www.lawrence.k12.ma.us/about-lps/key-facts (accessed October 2015).
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