Thompson: Why Turnarounds Work (Or Fail)
You can call the attempted transformation of Central Falls High School a "shambles" or a "joke" or a "cautionary tale" but you can't call it a success. As chronicled in Claudio Sanchez' recent NPR story said that the restructuring was "pathetic." Indeed, as the first year of school turnarounds at scale comes to a close, we are bound to read of more failures
Probably the best example of what it takes to turn around the toughest schools is Kenyatta Stansberry, the tattooed, spiky-haired principal of Marshall High School in Chicago, recently profiled in the Chicago Tribune. Stansberry, "the Marine," "will not take any lip. She can defuse a hard-core gangbanger." And "she patrols Facebook into the night, looking for signs of a brewing school fight or just to tell her students. 'It's 11 p.m. Time to go to bed.'"
To gain control of the school, however, 161 students were sent elsewhere, 104 of them transferred to other schools, and 34 went to alternative schools. (I wonder whether the principals of the 104 transfers will be equally diligent in addressing behavior, so that the influx of potential troublemakers does not further damage their schools.) Then, the love part of the tough love approach was able to show results. Stansberry identified a core
Video: NFL Star Gives Speech To Alternative HS Grads
Speaking of "troublemakers" here's a video clip of NFL quarterback Michael Vick giving the commencement speech to kids graduating from an alternative high school: