MEETING THE TURNAROUND CHALLENGE:
Strategies, Resources & Tools to Transform a Framework into Practice

The need to turn around chronically underperforming schools has never been greater; the funding opportunities presented by ARRA and increased Title 1 dollars highlight both the need and opportunity for dramatic change in these schools. Mass Insight’s 2007 Gates-funded report The Turnaround Challenge contributed significantly to the national debate that shaped the current emphasis on transformational change, significant investment, and a portfolio of management approaches. 

Now, following two further years of Gates-funded research and development, Mass Insight is pleased to provide access to a major new set of integrated tools to help states, districts and turnaround partner organizations “operationalize” The Turnaround Challenge framework, with its focus on turnaround zones, embedded partners, and flexible operating conditions.

• Learn more about The Turnaround Challenge's alignment with current federal policy
• Learn more about the Partnership Zone Initiative
• See our schedule of upcoming publications
  

A brief description of each document is in the annotated list below the chart. Some reports are available only to registered users of our site. Register here. (It takes less than a minute!) Registered users have access to all of the resources as they're published. The overview, executive summary, case study artifacts, and links to secondary sites are available without registration. Additional reports and tools will be published as they are created throughout summer 2009.

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Meeting the Turnaround Challenge Overview
This document provides an overview of the Meeting the Turnaround Challenge Initiative, the R&D process, and acts as a guide to the numerous reports and resources available on the School Turnaround Strategies Resource Center.

Executive Summary
A brief document that summarizes the policies, new players and organizational design that our extensive research suggests will provide the best chance of changing the odds for children in underperforming schools across states and districts, and which are presented in greater detail in the Main Reports and other supporting documents.

Main Reports
Three high-level reports provide analysis, recommendations, and supporting research about how to “operationalize” the turnaround framework. These three documents, meant to be read as reports, have been created using PowerPoint in order to include numerous charts and diagrams to help clarify concepts and organizational structures of Partnership Zones. Presentation versions of these reports will also be provided for local adaptation.

Partnership Zones: Using school turnaround as the entry point for real reform – and reinventing the district model in the process
This report is full of graphics, with supporting text, and provides an overview of Partnership Zones- what they are, how they are established, and how districts and states can support zones. Examples of state and district created carve-out zones provide education leaders with more information on various turnaround strategies that have been used and how they can be implemented in the field.

New Partnership Paradigm: Developing strong partnerships to tackle turnaround – and increase capacity in public education
This report explores how partners are currently used in schools and districts, and how different types of partners can be used to facilitate turnaround. Examples of various operating partners are provided and benchmarked against the Lead Turnaround Partner framework. The current partner market is also examined and recommendations for how to build the partner marketplace are provided.

Supplemental Reports
Some topics within the Main Reports called for additional information, resulting in a selection of Supplemental Reports. The format and purpose of these reports varies, ranging from narrative explanations for a few of the most important turnaround concepts (for those who prefer this to the graphical presentation in the Main Reports), to a deeper dive into one or two specific aspects of school turnaround, to an overview of the supporting tools and resources when a topic was particularly rich in these.

Why Create Partnership Zones?: Creating scalable models of excellence within public school districts
Partnership zones are created to streamline resources and change operating conditions within underperforming schools. This memo explores how districts can effectively design a Partnership Zone that goes beyond a single turnaround school to a network to drive systems change.

State Policies to Transform Struggling Schools: How various state policies can be used to enable school & district turnaround 
This document is a brief overview of how policy influences each of the five state roles and will help state leaders understand how adjusting current policies or creating new policies can enable the turnaround of schools through Partnership Zones. The various roles states play in supporting turnaround are outlined and references to examples of other resources are included. A revised analysis of current state policy changes will be released in Spring 2010.  

Supporting Resources
Our research and design work on turnaround implementation targeted, among other things, the development of an array of tools, resources, and more specific strategies to help policymakers, reformers, and practitioners improve the development of their own turnaround designs. These resources include: tools and templates created by Mass Insight and our partners, secondary tools created by other education organizations, profiles of various turnaround efforts, case studies of school level turnaround strategies, and annotated summaries of relevant research. Information and documents will be added periodically as they are created.

Best practice state policy (scheduled for release in March 2010)
Offers advice on how policy can be created to encourage optimal conditions for school turnaround, drawing on promising practices from existing and forthcoming state legislation.

Building a District Turnaround Office (scheduled for release in May 2010)  
Provides guidance on creating a District Turnaround Office, an organizational structure designed specifically to manage turnaround efforts within the district.

Building a State Turnaround Office (scheduled for release in April 2010):  
Describes the structure and functions of the State Turnaround Office, an office of the State Education Agency responsible for all turnaround efforts within the state.

NEW! Creating Internal Lead Partners for Turnaround
Internal Lead Partners are carve-out units within district or state central offices that have autonomy from traditional structures and policies, authority over decisions, and accountability for student performance for a subset of schools. This report examines the role and and structures of Internal Lead Partners (ILPs) in district turnaround strategies.

NEW! Designing MOUs for Lead Partners
MOUs can be used to clarify and solidify the relationships between the state, the district, the school, and partners (both lead and supporting). Clearly defining metrics for success, expected goals, roles and responsibilities, and conditions can decrease confusion throughout a partnership. This document should be used with the companion report on RFPs.

Evaluation Metrics: Goals and Benchmarks
Having a high-quality data system and performance goals are critical to the implementation and evaluation of a district or statewide turnaround effort. This resource outlines what elements should be included in a comprehensive data system, and provides recommendations for setting short and long-term performance goals for Partnership Zones.

Funding Flexibility and Waiver Options
This document provides technical information about the various federal funding flexibility options and waivers that are available to LEAs and SEAs from USED. In relation to Title I programs, fund transferability, flexibility demonstration authorization, consolidation of reporting requirements, block granting, and waiver authorities are specified as possible places for policy changes that could assist in the implementation of Partnership Zones. Examples of notable state practices currently being used are also included.

Leveraging Title 1 School Improvement Grants (scheduled for release in February 2010) 
Provides recommendations to states on the most effective process to allocate the Title 1 School Improvement grants under the new federal guidelines.

Recommended State Criteria for Operating & Instructional Conditions
This list of the Essential Conditions for a Partnership Zone provides an overview of the key features of a turnaround space. The conditions are separated by content area, and include: people, time, money and program.

Small Schools and Turnaround: How the creation of small schools can assist in the process of turnaround
The small schools strategy has been used frequently as a means of transforming large high schools, but is the creation of small schools really turnaround? This document outlines the potential impact of the small schools structure and explores why some small schools have transformed into high-performing institutions and others have not been as successful.

Teacher Pay-for-Performance in School Turnaround: How bonuses and differentiated pay scales can help support school turnaround
This memo describes how pay-for-performance and other compensation systems can assist in school turnaround efforts by recruiting and retaining high-capacity teachers to the lowest-performing schools.

NEW! Using RFPs to Attract High-Capacity Lead Partners 
States and districts can use the Request for Proposal (RFP) process to recruit and procure high-quality Lead Partners. The states and districts can then create a preferred provider list of approved providers, or the state turnaround office could directly match up partners with schools and districts. See the bottom of this page for links to state and district RFPs.

Who's Developing Capacity?
These profiles feature organizations and programs that are working to build the capacity for turnaround in schools and districts. Turning around chronically low-performing schools requires a new type of skills, not usually taught in traditional education training programs, and a growing group of entrepreneurial organizations is helping meet the increasing demand for turnaround-oriented education leaders, administrators and district staff.

NEW! Selecting and Attracting Lead Partners
The Lead Partner is a critical player in the Partnership Zone model. This tool describes the potential sources of Lead Partners and addresses the conditions required to attract them to districts and states.

School & District Case Studies

• Animo Locke #1, Locke High School, Los Angeles, Green Dot Public Schools
  Forthcoming
• Bronx International High School, NYC 
  Forthcoming
• Duggan Middle School, Springfield, Massachusetts, Commonwealth Pilot Initiative Duggan Middle school converted to Commonwealth Pilot school status in 2007. The Co-Pilot program is based on the Boston Pilot School initiative, which grants site-based autonomies regarding budget, staffing, governance, curriculum, assessment and the school calendar. The Co-Pilot initiative is managed by the Massachusetts' Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and is supported by the Boston-based Center for Collaborative Education.

1. Co-Pilot Process Overview 07
2. Co-Pilot Overview Guidelines 08
3. Co-Pilot School Application Requirements
4. Duggan Co-Pilot Proposal
5. SPS SEA Teacher Contract MOA
6. Duggan Election to Work Agreement 09
7. CCE Progress Report of Duggan 08
8. Duggan Self Progress Report
9. Co-Pilot Year One Evaluation Report UMass
10. Duggan Way Expectations for Adults
11. Duggan Daily Schedule 08-09
12. Duggan Staff Calendar 08-09
13. SPS Budget Guidelines 
14. Duggan CCE Work Plan 08
15. CCE Duggan Work Goals 07-09
16. CCE Duggan Summer Institute schedule
17. Duggan Long Term PD Goals
18. Duggan Way Expectations for Students
19. Duggan Student Reflection Form

• Harvard School of Excellence, Chicago, Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL)
  The Academy for Urban School Leadership began turning around low-performing Chicago Public Schools after their highly-trained teachers became frustrated working within the traditional school structures. By linking the AUSL teacher residency program with the operation of schools, AUSL is able to simultaneously train new teachers, while also transforming the structure of chronically low-performing schools. AUSL closely resembles a Lead Partner, as the organization has the authority to make decisions, and is accountable for specific performance benchmarks, both of which are defined by a contract with the Chicago Public Schools.

1. CPS RFP
2. CPS RFP Questions
3. AUSL RFP Response for HSE
4. AUSL RFP Response for HSE Attachments
5. CPS CEO's Data Report HSE 07-08
6. HSE PD Schedule
7. HSE School Improvement Plan
8. AUSL Staff Handbook
9. HSE Procedures & Non-Negotiables
10. HSE Student Credo

• McDaniel Elementary School, Philadelphia
  In the spring of 2006, McDaniel Elementary was one of twelve low-performing schools selected by the District of Philadelphia for inclusion in a specially created sub-district ("CEO District"). This designation provided a few altered conditions, but did include additional support from the sub-district superintendent, and an investment in turnaround management training from the University of Virginia’s School Turnaround Specialist Program.

• Newton Street School, Newark, NJ 
  Forthcoming

• Pickett Middle School, Philadelphia, Mastery Charter Schools
  Mastery Charter Schools converts existing low-performing Philadelphia schools into charter schools. Pickett Middle School serves the same demographic of students as the "Old Pickett," but the school was renovated, re-staffed, and is now run by the CMO. Mastery provides centralized leadership and a "tight" governance structure for its charter schools and focuses on students achieving basic proficiency levels within the first few years of enrollment. Financial and non-financial incentives are offered to teachers based on student performance.

1. Mastery Staff Handbook
2. Mastery Values
3. Mastery Instructional Standards and Model
4. Mastery Summary document
5. Curriculum Planning Document
6. Lesson Plan Format
7. Intensive Intervention Program
8. Coaching Overview document & Coaching Action Plan
9. Data Dashboard
10. Benchmark Conference Conversation Flow
11. Bonus calculation
12. Classroom Formal Observation and Feedback Sheets
13. Special Education IEP and Transition Plan

• School Improvement Zone, Miami Dade County Public Schools
  Miami's School Improvement Zone was launched in 2004 as a district-based carve-out zone. The Zone was created as a temporary intervention, and was dissolved after three years. The Miami case provides a unique set of lessons learned for other states and districts who are developing their own turnaround strategies. The Zone's creation of a separate office (yet one that didn't have full autonomy), the limited use of external partners, the emphasis on extended learning time, and a focus on literacy are highlighted in this case study.

1. ZoneTeacher Contract
2. Zone Plan
3. Zone Evaluation 04-05
4. Zone Evaluation 05-06
5. Zone Evaluation 06-07

• Sci Academy,Recovery School District, New Orleans
  Sci Acadmy is a charter school in New Orleans, LA that was created as part of the Recovery School District. The school's curriculum focuses on science and math, and the leadership is supported by the non-profit strategic partner, New Schools for New Orleans.

1. Sci Academy Family Handbook 2009-2010
2. NSNO Menu of Services
3. NSNO Charter School Guidebook
4. Charter Boards 101
5. Finding and Recruiting Excellent Board Members
6. Sci Academy Summer Orientation
7. Staff Culture Handbook
   

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Additional Research and Models

• Profiles of District Turnaround Zone Efforts
  Charlotte-Mecklenburg's Achievement Zone
  Chicago Public Schools' Portfolio Approach
  Miami-Dade's School Improvement Zone 
  New York City's Chancellor's District
  New York City's Children First Initiative
  
• Zone Creation Legislation Examples
  Colorado, Innovation Schools Act of 2008 (SB 130)
  Louisiana, Recovery School District 2003, (Act 9, SB 710, HB 1660)
  Mississippi, Children First Act of 2009 (SB 2628)
• Request for Proposal(RFP)Examples
  Indiana,November 6, 2009
  Massachusetts,November 4, 2009
  Virginia,October 29, 2009
  Illinois,October 15, 2009
  Texas, April 3, 2009
  Chicago Public Schools, November 21, 2007
• Annotated Research and Resources on School Turnaround: The turnaround resources listed and annotated here are a sampling of the many that are available to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers(including many that were used to create the turnaround framework). Some included here are not exclusively focused on turnaround, but touch on related topics we believe are helpful to designers of turnaround strategy. See Annotated Reseach page for additional detail.