District Participation at a Glance

District Participation in School Turnaround includes a focus on the turnaround strategies for improving all schools in a district. This includes new achievement at high-performing schools where getting from good to great is as difficult as reversing failure in low-performing schools. Participation in both our district-level conferences and the superintendents' cohort focuses on redefining new value- adding roles at the district level. This includes new approaches to data development and use, changing behaviors that affect the quality of teaching and learning, and performance assessment of principals.

Turnaround Training

For Leaders

This cohort is open to superintendents and deputy superintendents of districts It is comprised of a select group of superintendents who have demonstrated a clear commitment to turnaround. Participants attend four quarterly weekend seminars that are facilitated by Turnaround Specialists. Each Turnaround Specialist is carefully selected based on having turned around a low-performing district. The seminars focus on the district context for the six characteristics of successful turnaround leaders and the six key strategies for turnaround. The emphasis is on the application of these learning’s to each individual district. In addition to the quarterly seminars, superintendents in the cohort have the additional option of engaging in a partnership with one of our Turnaround Specialists for more tailored, hands-on support within the district.

For District Staff

The intent of these conferences is to provide district-level staff with the knowledge and tools provided to principals who are participating in our core program. This enables district-level staff to better understand how to support schools engaged in the turnaround process. In addition, the conference focuses on transferring the key leadership characteristics and strategies to the context of the district. Each team is assisted, supported, and challenged by a Turnaround Specialist. Particular emphasis is given to the systems needed to support turnaround district-wide—such as building effective communication with students and families, increasing successful classroom practices, and using data to inform instruction.