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Educators Step Up Academics at Ky. Turnaround School

Leesa Moman helps Shaella Freeman with a math problem in Tiffany Clements’ class at The Academy @ Shawnee. Ms. Moman is among a trio of “education recovery specialists” assigned to the school this year by the Kentucky education department.

—David Lee Hartlage for Education Week

Staff at Shawnee Works to Raise Academic Expectations and Build Ties With Students

By Dakarai I. Aarons

Louisville, Ky.

The formal lesson in Crystal Darensbourg’s senior English class at the former Shawnee High School one recent morning was about distinguishing personal narratives, personal essays, and memoirs, but a life lesson was also in store for her students.

The assignment: Students had to write about a fear and their efforts to overcome it.

They shared everything from a phobia of chain saws to one of letting down their families, but one stopped the class in its tracks. A student tearfully told classmates she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to go to college. Figuring out the applications, essays, and scholarships was...