Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Who will turnaround the turnarounds?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Who will turnaround the turnarounds?:

Who will turnaround the turnarounds?

by Mike Klonsky

Last summer, we learned that L.A.'s mayor-run and privately-operatedturnaround/charter schools were a miserable failure even when compared to struggling regular district-operated public schools. Similar results are now being reported in other urban districts where contract-hungry corporate reformers are imposing top-down turnaround solutions to complex problems.

Now the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research reports that, after four years, “turned around’’ high schools in Chicago have failed to outperform the city's similar struggling high schools. The report studied 36 schools that adopted one of four models required for federal funding under Race To The Top — replacing principals, replacing staff through either district-led or AUSL-managed turnarounds and replacing underperforming neighborhood schools with