Massachusetts wonks got a late holiday gift in the release of two sets of reports on school and district turnaround practices.
The Commonwealth released the latest iteration of their 2016 Turnaround Practices Evaluation and Resources reports and supporting documents. According to the Executive Office of Education, this collection of documents “highlights those strategies described by successful schools as ‘essential’ to the school’s turnaround efforts and ability to sustain improvements.”
You can read the documents online at EOE Turnaround Practices Research and Evaluation Reports.
Many of the Commonwealth’s turnaround school practices were spun out of an infusion of cash (with strings attached) by the federal School Improvement Grants (SIG). Before we give the Massachusetts school turnaround practices another whirl, the study published by the Institution of Education Sciences (IES) threw some of the common (and mandated) practices out of the orbit of favorability. These practices included the dislocation of 50% or more of the school faculty and the school principal, regardless of identified student needs.
If you aren’t dizzy yet, check out the Washington Post’s analysis of the report and you can ies-sig-grant-2017.