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

As school reform initiatives bring greater accountability and punitive measures to schools, identifying effective leadership practices of successful turnaround principals is important as school districts continue to identify, hire, and train future principals to lead low-performing schools. This qualitative research case study focused on examining the leadership practices of turnaround principals in one urban school district located in the Midwest portion of the United States. The study examined how the principals measure their own success, if the turnaround initiatives are sustainable, and how the turnaround process has influenced the school culture. This study was conducted using semi-structured interviews, direct observations, and document reviews with four principals who have successfully improved the gap closing measure on the state report card. Change Theory and Transformational Leadership were used as frameworks to examine the leadership practices of turnaround principals. The results of the study identified nine important findings: Student Growth, Collaboration, Relationships, Feedback, Shared Leadership, Research-based action steps, District Alignment, Clear Goals, and Collective Teacher Efficacy. The implications from this study identified the leadership practices that led to sustainability and provided a rationale for districts to train principals in turnaround practices.

Research on school principals has been narrowed to the factors leading to attrition or retention with little focus on the recruitment and development. The decreasing number of individuals applying for school principal positions has led some school districts to implement new methods to recruit and develop future school principals. One method being used by some large, urban school districts is the creation and implementation of leadership academies; however, few studies have been conducted to determine the effectiveness of this tool in aiding the recruitment and development of aspiring school principals. The purpose of this case study was to investigate the effectiveness of a leadership academy implemented in an urban school district to increase the recruitment of school leaders. Participants were assessed on their perceptions of the effectiveness of the leadership academy, in one urban school district, to prepare them for the school principal role. A qualitative, embedded case study approach was used to describe these perceptions. The study participants consisted of 12 individuals who were working as principals or assistant principals in the district after participation in the leadership academy. The data was based on participants' responses from 25 semi-structured interview questions, non-participant observations, and a document analysis of materials used in the leadership academy. The data revealed four assertions 1) the leadership academy provides an avenue for the district to identify individuals interested in the principal position and get to know the leadership styles of each individual; 2) participants believe the leadership academy aided in their preparation for a principal position in the district; 3) the application and selection process enabled the district to identify individuals interested in the principal position; and 4) the leadership academy was an indirect tool for recruitment. The findings showed that all study participants felt the leadership academy was a valuable experience and did aid them in their journey to becoming a school principal. The findings from this study support the use of a leadership academy as a tool to develop aspiring school principals; however, further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of the leadership academy in recruiting future school leaders.

The book offers a progressive perspective of turnaround principals and adds to the current turnaround school literature. It includes stories of the lived experiences of three critically conscious principals’ journey to school transformation. The turnaround principals in this book disrupted cultures of oppression in predominantly African American schools. Through the power of transformative leadership these school leaders improved the academic outcomes for students as well as the working conditions of teachers and staff.

The emphasis on student achievement results to measure school effectiveness has shed a spotlight on the role of the school principals and their impact on student learning. With the past three education reform efforts focusing on student assessment results as a method for school accountability, school district leaders must be strategic in selecting an effective principal who will lead their schools and increase student achievement rates. However, it is not clear how the principals are selected and placed on campuses in the district. Thus, this study focused on an analysis of the pertinent literature related to principal selection and placement to highlight what previous research suggests upon which to identify these practices and the implications for further inquiry. While some previous research has focused on the competencies and methods to screen principal candidates, it is not clear as to how a campus leader is selected. This qualitative study examined the selection methods a school district utilized to hire a campus principal for a low-performing school and the method a school district utilized when assigning a campus principal to a low-performing school. A single case study design was employed in this study and included semi-structured interviews of two key district leaders from a large urban school distinct. Findings from this study suggest the effective selection and assignment practices of principals resulted in rapid turnaround of schools needing improvement in levels of academic performance. The study found that the practices that led to those efforts were the district connectivity in the three areas of leadership alignment, campus fit and differentiated school support systems. Findings also indicate that the calibration of the district systems in the areas of leadership alignment, campus fit, and differentiated district support systems to align with a focus on student outcomes would set the stage for the strategic selection and assignment of principals to drive the turnaround work while increasing the district’s bandwidth to support them once they are assigned.

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.