Research on school improvement has accumulated an extensive list of factors that facilitate turnarounds at underperforming schools. Given that context or resource constraints may limit the possibilities of putting all of these factors in place, an important question is what is necessary and sufficient to turn a school around. We use qualitative…

In this systematic review, we examine research from 2009 to 2022 to identify and classify the unintended effects of turnaround in the United States. We develop a conceptual framework classifying three types of side effects--spillover effects, systemic side effects, and internal side effects--and differentiate these side effects from unintended…

The purpose of this study was to determine the specific competencies found in turnaround principals that lead to student achievement. The target population was school principals who have effectively turned around low-performing schools that were designated as priority schools in the state of Tennessee. Three forms of data were used for this study:…

Turnaround schools represent a strategy for swiftly revitalizing underperforming educational institutions. This study examined how teachers perceived the role of teacher leadership within one urban turnaround high school. The study addressed the following research questions: 1. How do teachers within an urban turnaround high school conceptualize…

The Data Must Speak (DMS) Positive Deviance research aims to improve the equity and quality of education through the use of data by studying the practices and behaviours of 'positive deviant' schools -- schools that outperform others despite operating in similar contexts and with equivalent resources. The analysis aims to inform practical…

This study proposes an empirically grounded theory of how school reform implementation relates to effectiveness, useful for developing and studying many approaches to school reform both in the U.S. and abroad, and also for assessing how policymakers and implementers might leverage various aspects of implementation to create effective school…

School accountability has been a focus for state and federal legislators for over 50 years. In 2017, Texas passed House Bill 22 to align their accountability system with the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. This piece of legislation gives every Texas public school a letter grade based on state assessment scores, attendance, and other factors.…

This qualitative study described the lived experiences of twelve Black female principals who currently work in Title I schools. This study set out to determine how they managed their challenges and barriers while leading. Data included one-on-one interviews with participants. The work lives of the participants were situated in Title I schools,…

Purpose: While previous research has examined the impact of school turnaround models, less is known about the principals who lead these turnaround schools. This study examines the personal demographics, experience, educational background, prior school performance, salaries, and turnover of principals who led two turnaround models in Tennessee's…

Principal leadership is at the core of successful school turnaround. This qualitative study explored principals' perceptions of the success or failure of turnaround methods in their New York City charter school communities. Principal leadership of low-performing schools is one of the most important elements of turnaround success (Stronge & Xu,…

This report focuses highlights turnarounds at two Massachusetts schools, Worcester Technical High School and the Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical Academy in Springfield, that were once known for high dropout rates and low graduation rates. The report shows that these schools now excel due to new leadership, community investment, and committed…

While there currently exists a vast body of research around school turnaround policies, few studies speak to why they have or have not worked. This paper undertakes a systematic review of research literature on school turnaround policies to explore why this lack of understanding prevails in the field. We find key disconnects between…

The lack of access to high-quality schools creates an achievement gap that limits students' access to future earnings and longevity, exacerbating equity concerns across the nation where struggling, low-performing schools are disproportionately responsible for educating students living in poverty. Large Urban School District's Accelerating Campus…

Whole-school reforms have received widespread attention, but a critical limitation of the current literature is the lack of evidence around whether these extensive and costly interventions improve students' long-term outcomes after they leave reform schools. Leveraging Tennessee's statewide turnaround reforms, we use difference-in-differences…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there are significant differences in the English/Language Arts proficiency scores of elementary school students who attend a traditional public school or one of two types of turnaround schools in a large metropolitan school district in the southern region of the United States. The goal was to determine…