9/14/2016 Where school turnarounds have been successful they have been embedded in over-all district efforts to improve and have avoided a punishment approach. A new report by the Center for American Progress https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/report/2016/09/13/143922/7-tenets-for-sustainable-school-turnaround/ has found seven important issues for successful school turnarounds:

1. Grant districts, and ultimately the state, the authority to intervene in failing schools;
2. Provide significant resources to support planning and restructuring and leverage competitive grants;
3. Treat the district as the unit of change and hold them accountable for school improvement;
4. Create transparent tiers of intervention and support combined with ongoing capacity building and sharing best practices;
5. Promote stakeholder engagement;
6. Create pipeline programs for developing and supporting effective turnaround school leaders; and
7. Embed evaluation and evidence-based building activities in school implementation.