A Third Way: The Politics of School District Takeover and Turnaround in Lawrence, Massachusetts

Abstract

Purpose: School district superintendents say politics is the number one factor limiting their performance, yet research provides limited guidance on navigating the political dynamics of district improvement. State takeovers and district-wide turnaround efforts tend to involve particularly heated and polarized debates. Massachusetts’ 2012 takeover of the Lawrence Public Schools provides a rare case of state takeover and district turnaround that both resulted in substantial early academic improvements and generated limited controversy. Method: To describe the stakeholder response and learn why the reforms were not more contentious, I analyzed press coverage of the Lawrence schools from 2007 to 2015, public documents, and two secondary sources of survey data on parent and educator perceptions of the schools. I also interviewed turnaround and stakeholder group leaders at the state and district level regarding the first 3 years of reform. Findings: I find that the local Lawrence context and broader statewide accountability system help explain the stakeholder response. Furthermore, several features of the turnaround leaders’ approach improved the response and reflected a “third way” orientation to transcending polarizing political disagreement between educational reformers and traditionalists. Examples include leaders’ focus on differentiating district–school relations, diversifying school management, making strategic staffing decisions, boosting both academics and enrichment, and producing early results while minimizing disruption. Implications: The findings provide guidance for state-level leaders on developing accountability systems and selecting contexts that are ripe for reform. The results also provide lessons for district- and school-level leaders seeking to implement politically viable improvement of persistently low-performing educational systems.