Passing Year-One Milestone on Improvement

Senior Leteidra Caples waves to friends in the hall at the Academy @ Shawnee on May 31. Caples and other seniors participated in the annual seniors march at the Louisville school.

—Pat McDonogh for Education Week

Kentucky high school takes stock after first phase of federal turnaround effort

By Alyson Klein

Louisville, Ky.

Keith Look has come to the end of a very turbulent year.

As the principal of the former Shawnee High School, he’s had to replace half his staff, cope with unprecedented scrutiny from his district, and learn to work with a trio of turnaround specialists sent in by the state of Kentucky—all the while knowing his job was on the line if the school failed to make academic progress.

The school’s test scores won’t be out for another few months. But, by many measures, the school, now called the Academy @ Shawnee, is on the right track toward its goals under the $3.5 billion federal...