Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Targeted but Dramatic School Turnaround Can Successfully Increase Student Achievement, New CAP Brief Shows

  • 03/31/15

Washington, D.C. — Dramatic school improvement efforts are key to turning around underperforming schools and successfully increasing student achievement, according to the available body of research, and powerful examples from schools in Maryland, Kentucky, Kansas, and California demonstrate that school turnaround is most effective when districts take aggressive steps to rescue failing schools, a new brief from the Center for American Progress shows.

“The reality today is that hundreds of schools are chronically underperforming by virtually any standard and are in dire need of significant intervention,” said Tiffany D. Miller, Director for Education Policy at CAP. “The good news is that the research shows that school turnaround is possible when there is a combination of dramatic action and targeted resources.”

CAP’s brief summarizes the existing research on school turnaround and then profiles schools in Baltimore, Maryland; Hyden, Kentucky; Kansas City, Kansas; and Soledad, California. The analysis finds that school turnaround is not only possible, but also is most successful and meaningful when districts take aggressive steps to transform underperforming schools. Aggressive action on the part of school districts, resources and requirements, governance and staffing changes, data-driven decision making, and a focus on school culture and nonacademic supports for disadvantaged students are all part of an evidence-based set of best practices that are key to successful school turnaround.

With the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act currently underway in Congress, CAP recommends that federal policy prioritize strong requirements and targeted support that identifies chronically failing schools while empowering states and districts to take bold and significant steps to turn those schools around.

“A new Elementary and Secondary Education Act should require states to identify--at least--their lowest-performing 5 percent of schools and use evidence-based interventions to turn them around,” added Catherine Brown, Vice President of Education Policy at CAP.

Featured

  • Opportunity by Design Framework

    Opportunity by Design

    Educational improvement efforts often focus on curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, and intervention systems while treating the physical school building as background. But school design is not a passive backdrop to learning — it is a structural lever for equity.

  • University of Mary Washington Selects Builder for New Theater, Dance Facility

    The University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., recently announced that it has selected construction and development firm Skanska to lead a series of renovations and upgrades to fine arts facilities, according to a news release.

  • Texas A&M Opens First Building at Fort Worth Campus, Breaks Ground on Research Facility

    The Texas A&M University System marked a major milestone in the development of its Fort Worth campus by opening its first completed academic building and breaking ground on a second facility designed to expand research and industry collaboration.

  • Esports are Growing in Popularity

    Video games and esports are a popular social hobby, and it’s one that’s accessible to a wide variety of physical ability levels. Some esport student-athletes have started to earn scholarship opportunities, and high schools are beginning to form teams equipped with the same degree of resources as their physical sports teams. However, the two have very different needs.