“Are You Ready for a School Turnaround” by Dr. Rudy L Duran

Before you can begin the process of a School Turnaround, you have to ask some questions that must be addressed. 1. Have key members of your staff had a leadership role in shaping your school turnaround plan? 2. Has the planning team benefited significantly from unbiased outside support? 3. Has the process moved swiftly in order to meet a deadline, and has it been driven in part by clear criteria set by the state? 4. Is your work supported by a lead turnaround partner that will help put your school in the best possible position to meet your student achievement goals? 5. Does your district or state provide you with a choice of support services tailored to meet the needs of a high-poverty setting and to your school’s priorities? 6. Does administration have the authority to shape your school staff to so that you are best positioned to implement the plan? 7. Does the school have the ability to recruit: hiring and placement; freedom from seniority rules, bumping and force-placing; ability to adjust positions to suit student needs? 8. Do the schools have the choice of removal: discretion to excess teachers who are not performing or are unwilling to participate fully in the turnaround plan for the school? 9. Does the school have the ability to differentiate compensation, providing bonus incentives to attract high quality teachers and/or performance or responsibility-related pay? 10. Do you, your turnaround partner, and your leadership team have the authority (and resources) to adjust your school’s schedule to suit the needs of your students and instructional approach? 11. Do you and your turnaround leadership team have discretion over budget allocation to support your mission? 12. Is your turnaround plan sufficiently supported by extra funding and outside resources? 13. Are those resources sufficient to provide for substantial planning, collaboration, and training time for staff? 14. Do you have the authority to adjust curriculum and programming to suit your school’s priorities and support the turnaround plan, within a larger framework of program-related decisions made by your district? 15. Are you free to make choices and respond to crises with a minimum of compliance-driven oversight? 16. Do you have the authority to shape the way your school works by creating teacher leadership positions and differentiating responsibilities? 17. Will you and your leadership team be provided, as part of the turnaround plan, with professional development to increase your expertise in turnaround management? 18. Do you currently have the technology, systems, and analysis expertise necessary to implement the frequent formative assessment and feedback that is central to increasing performance in high-risk populations? 19. Do you feel that you have been provided with unambiguous expectations and clear measures of accountability to help you bring urgency to the work of turning around student performance at your school?