District Leaders to Clean House at 8 Chicago Schools

Some teachers to be replaced by newly trained educators.

After a series of efforts that failed to improve achievement in a handful of Chicago’s worst schools, district leaders have announced their newest strategy: to “turn around” eight schools at once by firing all of the teachers and principals and replacing them with better-qualified educators by next fall.

The plan, which is drawing both strong support and skepticism, targets high schools and elementary campuses in impoverished neighborhoods on the city’s South and West sides. One of the targeted schools is Orr High School, which was broken up into small academies as part of the city’s $26 million Chicago High School Redesign Initiative five years ago.

Casting the drastic measures as a “moral obligation,” district officials say the strategy diverges from earlier attempts because it makes overhauling the entire staff at...