This study aimed to contribute to the growing field of research on the effectiveness of efforts to improve chronically underperforming schools grouped under a turnaround model. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the characteristics ascribed to principals who have been effective in raising student performance at low-performing schools that fall under this model. The study looked to identify and understand the competencies and characteristics that principals, teachers and district leaders believed were essential for turnaround principals to be effective turnaround leaders. The researcher probed the lived experiences of principals, teachers, and district leaders associated with three types of public turnaround schools: (a) schools that have shown clear and steady improvement under the turnaround model, (b) schools that have remained stagnant under the model and (c) schools that have regressed under the model. Qualitative methods were used to collect, analyze and interpret data. Data were collected from interviews with turnaround school staff and from archival documents such as principal performance reviews and staff-provided performance surveys of school principals. A study of these data sources may contribute to the growing body of research centered on turnaround schools and potentially support districts in their protocols for hiring and retention decisions related to turnaround principals. This study may also serve as a resource for districts to increase the likelihood of success of turnaround principals in similar school settings.

There's no mystery in turning around low-performing or failing schools, but there are also no recipes. In Turnaround Principals for Underperforming Schools Rosemary Papa and Fenwick English identify the essential ingredients for success. The causesof failure are complex and interactive. Schools are not inert structures but living organisms. Putting schools back together is a collaborative venture. It takes a team to turn around a school, but it all begins with the leadership. The key to success rests in a school leader who has a fundamental understanding of the dynamics of schooling, human motivation, and possesses the resiliency and energy to engage in altering the internal landscape of an unsuccessful school. Two veteran educators have put together a work based on their research and experience for the past half-century. They pull no punches. The challenge is not only to turn low-performing or failing schools around, but to enable them to become more socially just places for all students.

ABSTRACT: Initiatives to turnaround low-performing schools across the United States are foremost among national reform movements. The number of schools deemed "low-performing" continues to rise across the country with seemingly little to no solutions to remedy the problem. However, research shows that only 30% of all turnaround efforts succeed and that the success of a turnaround school is contingent on the ability of the school leader (Beer & Nohria, 2000). The present study examines the impact of principal competencies on the academic outcomes of 26 "turnaround" and "non-turnaround" schools. Turnaround schools outperformed non-turnaround schools on state-mandated assessments in reading/language arts, mathematics, and science. The present research discusses implications for school leaders, district-level administrators, and educational researchers. Specifically, the findings have a direct connection to those who focus their work on the implementation of effective strategies to improve academic outcomes of students in low-performing schools.

The real reform agenda -- Turning schools around -- Change -- Turning a whole system around.

This paper aims first to shed light on one element of leadership: the characteristics--or "competencies"--of turnaround leaders who succeed in driving rapid, dramatic change. Second, it recounts the elements of support that districts must provide these leaders to enable and sustain a portfolio of successful school turnarounds. Fortunately, decades of experience in other sectors and in education systems of other nations reveal tools and techniques for understanding and using turnaround leader competencies, and for governing turnaround leaders successfully. U.S. educators must act on this knowledge. Today, few districts have an explicit strategy to select and empower school turnaround leaders using the best available techniques. Few provide the autonomy, support, and accountability for rapid, dramatic change that will attract, keep, and enable turnarounds by capable leaders. Here the authors explain what states, districts, and others with an interest in school turnarounds need to know. They describe the role of leadership in organizational turnarounds and how using competencies can allow better selection, development, and support of these leaders. Appended are: (1) Identifying Distinguishing Competencies: Building a Valid Model; (2) Hiring Effective School Turnaround Principals; and (3) Developing School Turnaround Principals. (Contains 1 figure and 70 notes.) [Funding for this paper was provided by the University of Virginia's Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education.].

LEADING SCHOOL TURNAROUND Leading School Turnaround offers new perspectives and concrete, evidence-based guidelines for the educational leaders and administrators faced with the challenge of turning our low-performing schools around. Using the tools outlined in this groundbreaking book, school leaders can guide their schools to higher levels of achievement and sustained academic success. Based on research conducted in the United States, Canada, and England, Leading School Turnaround addresses in three parts the dynamic context of the turnaround environment, what turnaround leaders do, and the incredible challenges of moving from turnaround to "stay around." Filled with illustrative examples, the book outlines the best practices and behaviors successful turnaround leaders exercise. The authors include detailed information for applying the four main categories of turnaround leadership: direction setting, developing people, redesigning the school, and managing the instructional program. This important resource can help any school leader get their school back on the track to academic success.