Myths and Realities of School Turnarounds
States and school districts need to
develop a comprehensive strategy
for turning around failing schools
that focuses on building capacity
through partnerships, developing
effective educators, and reducing
bureaucracy.
Jordan Meranus, who focuses on
school turnaround investment
strategy for the New Schools
Venture Fund, began the discussion
by saying the problem of failing
schools is “massive.” He said his
organization is looking to provide
districts and states with greater
opportunities for partners in turning
around ineffective schools.
Mass Insight Education President
Bill Guenther said the key is
determining who has the capacity to
do turnaround work. “Failing schools
do not have a constituency,” he
said. “We were first to latch onto this
“Turnaround is possible, but a lot
notion that you need to focus on the
of hard work. Turning a school
bottom five percent – you have the
around is the most rewarding thing
opportunity to do the boldest things
you can do in your life.”
with those schools.” Mass Insight
Nancy Guzman
created a report in 2007, The
Turnaround Challenge, which U.S.
Education Sec. Arne Duncan has
referred to it as the “bible of turnaround.” Guenther said it synthesized the research on highperforming, high- poverty schools to develop a framework for success made up of the “3 C’s’
-- conditions, capacity, and cluster.
Comprehensive solution is essential
“If you’re solutions don’t respond to those 3 C’s, they will fail,” said Guenther. “There are no
silver bullets – you have to pull four or five levers simultaneously,” he said, explaining why a
comprehensive solution is essential. Guenther said staffing is the fundamental lever and just
placing a better principal in a bad school isn’t enough. “You have to create a protective zone
inside the district as an alternative to charter schools,” he said. “You need an ‘inside the
district’ revolution.”
Guenther said schools also need to add capacity by finding partners, who make sure schools
focus on student achievement. Mass Insight is working with six states around the country –
IL, DE, CO, LA, NY, and MA. And he said the final “C” - cluster - is about scale. “Most
interventions are done one by one, but with 5,000 failing schools in the country you’ll never
get anywhere without scale,” he said.
Competency-based model for turnarounds
LeAnn M. Buntrock, who heads Partnership for Leaders in Education (PLE) at the University
of Virginia, said her group works to “capitalize on the strengths of schools and minimize their
weaknesses.” Buntrock said, “The focus is on the district to put the right conditions in place
for outstanding and competent turnaround leaders to be successful in their schools. As we
go in to this work, the district has to agree to utilize a competency-based model.”
Buntrock explained that when PLE started its turnaround program in 2004, its main focus
was working with school principals. “As we have evolved and learned, we have made a huge
cultural shift, and now the main point of contact is the district,” she said. Buntrick said the
program involves the principal and school leadership, but it primarily puts pressure on the
district. “We believe for this to be sustainable and scalable, we have to help the district build
capacity,” she said. “But there is skepticism about whether districts can do this.”
Strategic staffing concept turns around schools in Charlotte
Nancy Guzman is a principal who specializes in turning around failing schools. She said it
took her seven to eight years to turn around her first school in South Carolina. Then she
came to Charlotte 12 years ago, and it took a similar length of time to improve another
because she was doing most of the work herself. “Then in 2006, we got a new
superintendent in the district who was very visionary,” she said. “He was thinking about
forcing high-performing teachers to go into failing schools, but I was thinking, I don’t want
teachers there if they don’t want to be there.”
Guzman said her superintendent eventually decided on a concept called strategic staffing
that incorporates a team approach. “In seven schools, he took out seven ineffective
principals and sent in seven effectives ones,” she said. “They were allowed to bring in their
own assistant principal, literacy coordinator and behavior management technician. He gave
the principal and everyone else a 10 percent pay raise. The principal was allowed to take out
five ineffective teachers and bring in five effective ones. The teachers coming in get a
$20,000 bonus - $10,000 the first year, then five thousand for each of the next two years.
They have to commit to stay for three years.”
Guzman said the first cohort in the new system began in 2008 and now there are three
cohorts. The new principal is assigned to a school in March and has until May to remove
ineffective teachers. Those teachers leave the school with an action plan and are assigned
to another school.
The strategic staffing turnaround plan has been “extremely effective,” according to Guzman.
She said in her high-poverty school, which is 98% minority, reading scores improved by 10
% and math scores went up by 32% in the first year. “The whole culture has changed,” she
said. “Effective teachers are the nucleus for turning a school around – a principal can’t do it
on their own. In my first few schools, it took me seven years to turn around the school,
because you have to build the culture.”
Guzman’s work has been so successful that on Sept 15th, Education Sec. Arne
Duncan visited her elementary school and it was featured on NBC’s Education Nation.
Guzman said there are three questions a staff has to answer to turn around a failing school:
• What do we want students to learn?
• How are we going to know if they know it?
• What are we going to do if they don’t learn it?
At Guzman’s school, the teachers design curriculum maps and create assessments, which
are done in the middle of a quarter. If students show deficiencies, they are put into small
remedial groups for several weeks. They are tested again and if their skills have improved,
they move on. Guzman said her school does this all year around for math and reading, and
she even teaches remedial classes herself.
Timeline for turning schools around
Meranus said his organization, the New Schools Venture Fund, supports entrepreneurial
organizations that have the autonomy to “pull the levers all at once” when taking on a school
turnaround, such as lengthening the school day, making decisions about retaining staff, and
making jobs and expectations “extraordinarily clear.” Meranus said within two years, NSVF
expects to see gains in student performance and “within five years, we’re expecting that
most of the difference with the bestperforming schools in that district will be
closed.”
Panelist Bill Guenther
Guenther said Mass Insight Education
works to get control of one or two of the
most critical levers to obtain results in two
years and go from “bad to average” in just
one year. He said it’s difficult to sustain
any gains if there are changes in district
leadership unless there are partners
pushing and sustaining a set of strategic
objectives. “Our clients are states and
districts, but we’re trying to build capacity
by asking them to engage partners,”
Guenther said. “When you think of lead
partners, it’s a small marketplace – many
states, districts have to create their own
organization.”
Empowering principals
Guzman explained that until 2006, the central school administration office in Charlotte was
“my worst enemy because it issued mandates that had nothing to do with increasing
learning.” She said, “We would tell the district we’re not doing this, we’re going underground.
Then in 2006, the superintendent (Charlotte- Mecklinberg School Superintendent Peter
Gorman)released 47 principals and gave them the freedom and flexibility to do whatever we
need to do to increase student learning. Dr. Gorman said, ‘we want you to get results – do
what you need to do to get results.”
“Programs don’t fix schools, people do,” said Guzman. “Principal and teachers have to take
charge of learning. The principal’s job is to build capacity in teachers so that they know what
good learning and teaching is.”
Buntrock said in one of the districts PLE is working in, the superintendent tells teachers, “If
it’s not illegal or unethical, and if it’s in the best interest of the students, I’ve got your back.”
She added that Cincinnati has a rapid response team for turnaround projects, so that if one
of the schools has an issue, there is a response in 24 hours.
Structuring turnaround policy
Moderator Andy Rotherham asked the panelists to give advice on structuring turnaround
policy.
“Put the emphasis on leadership and leadership preparation,” responded Buntrock. “Yes,
highly effective teachers are critical, but you need leaders who know how to develop them. If
you’re in a union state, work with districts to help them figure out how to work with the union.
It can be done. Don’t fall into the trap there’s one magic solution.”
“Restructure the central office and make it more principal-friendly,” said Guzman.
“Bureaucracy gets in the way of turning schools around. Get the advice of principals who
have been successful – use their expertise and knowledge.”
Guenther’s advice was to start by asking “What it would take to make school an exciting
place?” He then advised finding the person who should be the state leader of turnaround
strategy and determining what stature they should have. “Pull them out of the bureaucracy -create an advisory board that’s highly visible and statewide,” he said.
Guenther also said that strings should be placed on the money given to turnaround schools
to make sure they are doing things right. He advised empowering superintendents when they
sit down with unions. And he agreed with Guzman, saying, “Help districts blow up central
offices – they are a big part of the problem.”
Meranus said districts should approach turnaround work from the perspective of a portfolio
manager. There only 10 or 20 organizations that can partner with states or districts on
turnarounds, so the market is very limited, according to Meranus.
Building capacity and sustainability
Rotherham wondered if there is a tipping point. He asked, “If you’re an advocate, should
there be a larger target, like kill 2000 schools?”
“National foundations need to adopt this and do a significant effort to build capacity,”
Guenther responded. “Kick the you know what out of the issue.”
Guzman said she’s concerned about sustainability. Two years after she left one of the
schools she turned around, a new principal with no experience came in and reading test
scores dropped dramatically.
Buntrock said a systematic program is needed. “If we focus on school at a time, we’ll never
get it done,” she said.
Rotherham asked the panelists, “When do you give up the ghost? When do you close it and
not just turn it around?”
“If there isn’t the expertise or capacity or
organization to partner with, closure might
be most applicable,” responded Meranus.
“Demand is an enormous part of this. We
need proof points so people can see what’s
possible. There’s not going to be critical
mass until there is demand.”
Meranus added, “There are almost no
examples of sustained, successful
turnarounds of high schools. What does that
mean for 2,000 dropout factories? We have
to be more creative with stand alone high
schools.”
Guenther said Massachusetts has
developed an Advanced Placement math,
science, and English program that’s had an
“extraordinarily high impact” in 46 high
schools. But he said it’s often better to close
Panelist Jordan Meranus
a school and reopen it. “Any ability to break
the old culture and build a new culture and
brand is helpful,” he said. “It’s tough to close
schools, it’s a political killer.” Guenther said turnarounds have to be directed by organizations
and superintendents because “communities not going to rise up” to close failing schools.
Buntrock cautioned that districts need to develop a plan to identify the most critical problems,
such as incompetent teachers or principals, and have a strategy in place for whatever option
they choose. She also said a communications plan is critical. “Cincinnati had a media blitz for
its turnaround initiative to explain ‘this is what we’re doing. This isn’t about going after
teachers, it’s about what Johnny needs, and addressing it.”
“Turnaround is possible, but a lot of hard work,” said Guzman. “You need the right staff. To
go into a school as a turnaround principal is very difficult. Those schools have been dumping
grounds for ineffective teaches for years, so you have to deal with people in a very
uncomfortable way.“
“It’s all about kids, not about adults, and some people don’t get it,” said Guzman. “Turning a
school around is the most rewarding thing you can do in your life. You see the progress
those children are making -- you’re turning their lives around. It’s the moral thing to do.”