‘Turnaround’ Work Needs Rethinking, New Report Says

State, district, and school leaders must link arms to create a different model for turning around the worst-performing schools, including a “protected space” free from many traditional rules, a new report contends.

The report, scheduled for release this week by Mass Insight Education and Research Institute, a Boston-based research and advocacy group, envisions a broad-based and highly cooperative system of rapid school improvement. States and districts would form small, specialized units to supervise and coordinate the work of locally based “lead” turnaround specialists, who would partner with a range of providers to supply an integrated array of services to schools.

Mass Insight intends the report to serve as a flexible framework for how states and districts can reverse the downward slide of their worst schools within a couple of years. Thousands of low-performing schools are likely to face the most severe consequences under the federal No Child Left Behind Act in the next few years. In this new model, states and districts would play key roles as facilitators, clearing away regulations or conditions that could hamper the work, and building crucial capacity...