A new approach to school turnarounds (or ‘old dogs CAN learn new tricks’)
This was written by educator Anthony Cody, who worked for 24 years in the Oakland schools, 18 years teaching science at a high-needs school and six years as a mentor and coach of teachers. He is a National Board-certified teacher. A version of this post appeared on hisEducation Week Teacher blog, Living in Dialogue .
By Anthony Cody
At a recent Education Writers Association conference on School Improvement, I was a bit of a contrarian. Many speakers suggested we need to “break the culture” at failing schools. A number suggested that the reason federal policies were not working was because too many schools were choosing the least disruptive option from the four allowed, and therefore were not firing enough of their lackluster staff. I asked one speaker if perhaps we might rethink the need to fire so many teachers given the recent research on the negative effects turnover has on student achievement. “That depends,” he replied, “on whether you think old dogs can learn new tricks.”
The data emerging from the current generation of turnarounds, many of which have embodied this “fire and replace” approach, have been disappointing. Even defenders are backpedaling, saying we must “recalibrate expectations.” Perhaps we need to do a bit more than recalibrate.
Here’s a different approach than that given by most of the turnaround