Since 2007, low-performing schools have received more than $5.8 billion in funds through the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. The National Alliance’s report Chartering Turnaround: Leveraging Public Charter School Autonomy to Address Failure examines how the autonomies related to staffing, curriculum, and general operations provided by state charter laws can be used to catalyze school turnaround efforts. Specifically, it explores the traditional public school (TPS) restart model through case studies of three charter management organizations (CMO), including LEAD Public Schools.
Nashville-based LEAD Public Schools currently manages two TPS restarts in its home city and is in the process of launching a third this summer. Additionally, LEAD manages three new start charter schools. LEAD’s first new start charter school included lottery enrollment and was designed to serve the same percentage of special education students that districts do (10–15 percent). LEAD uses a grade-by-grade phase-in/out approach to turn around low-performing schools. It takes four years to fully phase-in/out a four grade school. During the transition, LEAD must collaborate and align with the district to maintain a sense of continuity and coordination between the two coexisting schools sharing the same building. When asked about his approach to turning around failing schools, LEAD CEO Chris Reynolds said, “We’re not doing anything magical, we’re just doing the hard work. Our kids go to school a little longer, we use time efficiently during the day, we select staff based on their mindset, and we train staff a lot. If we do all those things, while still building a culture that honors individual student interests, then the conditions are right for kids to learn.” It is still too early to determine if LEAD’s turnaround schools are a success, but the initial findings are promising. The Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System ranks every school in the state based on growth on a scale of 1 to 5. All of LEAD’s campuses exceed the state norm for growth; three have Level 5, the top ranking available; and one is rated Level 4. Read the full report and case study here.
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