Underperforming School Research Articles

Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: A Principals Fight Against Traditional Educator Pathways to Staff an Underperforming School in the Rural South

Marcus, a young principal hired to turn around an underperforming school in the rural South, struggles to stabilize the school’s current staffing challenges. Throughout the case study, Marcus navigates recruiting and retaining teachers; however, he also creates an innovative partnership that enables him to train prospective teachers on his campus. The purpose of this case study is to encourage school leaders to pursue non-traditional solutions to staffing. This case also benefits graduate students in education policy, principalship preparation, and educational administration. Further, this case benefits leaders struggling to staff schools in under-resourced communities like the ones in the rural South.

Networking for the turnaround of an underperforming school: understanding the role of multiple external providers in China

PurposeWhile recognizing networking as a powerful means of school turnaround, most studies focus on governments’ and schools’ roles in promoting collaborative turnaround rather than the complexity of external providers and their behaviors. This study explores multiple external providers’ complex roles in networked school turnaround.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a qualitative case study approach and collected data through document analysis, observation and interviews in a Shanghai public junior secondary school’s turnaround network.FindingsThis study revealed three patterns in external providers’ interactions with the school (direction leader, solution supplier and method instructor) corresponding to three types of external providers (universities, private enterprises and public institutions). While providing support at different levels (i.e. macro, meso and micro), different external providers shared common strategies for addressing policy requirements and school needs and co-constructing turnaround strategies.Originality/valueThis study offers new insights into external providers’ supporting roles in Chinese school turnaround and expands the scant international knowledge base on external providers in educational improvement.

A Community School Reform Initiative for Middle Grades Urban and Newcomer Students: Using Mixed Methods to Examine Student Academic and Nonacademic Outcomes Over Time and Compared to a Matched Sample

In recent years, community school (CS) reform efforts have been established and implemented as a method of realizing comprehensive school reform in under-performing school districts. This study investigates the impact of one CS initiative in a middle school on student academic and nonacademic outcomes over time and compared to a propensity score matched sample. Significant quantitative findings were found related to an increase in CS students’ GPA over time and in comparison to their matched peers. Additionally, significantly more CS students met GPA college readiness benchmarks and significantly less at-risk indicators compared to the demographically similar comparison group. Qualitative explanations indicated CS student growth and differences found were largely due to specific school goals, relationships and partnerships between the school, family and community members, safe/supportive learning environments, and a deliberate focus on newcomer services.

The Growth of Multi-Academy Trusts in England: Emergent Structures and the Sponsorship of Underperforming Schools

In England, schools are able to take on academy status, which is intended by the central government to give them greater autonomy (DfE, 2018). Groups of academies can form multi-academy trusts (MATs), which typically grow in size with additional schools becoming academies and joining. One mechanism for MAT growth is sponsorship, which occurs when an underperforming school is required to become an academy and to join a MAT to facilitate its improvement. It was to explore the emerging patterns of MATs and their operation, especially in relation to sponsorship, that the research we report here was carried out. The research was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, we sought to establish the emerging patterns of MATs that sponsor underperforming schools. In the second phase, we interviewed MAT chief executive officers (CEOs) to further explore emerging patterns of MATs, the factors affecting the growth of MATs and the nature of sponsorship. Our analysis shows the development of a complex and potentially unsustainable state schooling system in England, managed by Regional School Commissioners (RSCs) and dependent on the altruistic values and motivations of CEOs of MATs to improve schools that are underperforming.

Non-compliance as a substitute for voice

ABSTRACT This article considers the effect that student-teacher relationships have on engagement with school and how students go about making their voice heard. In order to do this, it draws upon data from a year long ethnography in an underperforming school in England. The site was particularly useful in addressing these questions as it offered different types of educational provision to vocational and mainstream pupils. This contrast highlighted, in particular, the effects of different types of student-teacher relationships. The works of Honneth, Cavarero and Couldry are used to theorise voice along with criticism of formal school voice procedures by writers such as Fielding. The failure of formal student voice processes were found to further disengage the participants from school. Effective voice depends on relationships based on mutual recognition and cannot be based on simple representation. For the participants in this study, non-compliance became a means by which to exercise voice.

The Experiences of Foundation Phase Teachers Regarding Reading Literacy Interventions at an Underperforming School in Gauteng Province

South Africa’s education system has been characterized by various curriculum changes since 1997 given that basic education is a priority of this government and policies have specifically been aimed at improving the overall standard of education in the country. Despite these curriculum changes, the findings of tests such as the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) of 2006 revealed that South African learners had obtained the lowest overall reading literacy average out of 45 participating educational systems and the South African Consortium for Measuring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) highlighted that the majority of children in South Africa’s primary schools are not even reading at the minimal required level. In view of the publicised results of PIRLS 2006 and SAQMEQ 2008, several reading literacy interventions, known as the Foundations for Learning (FFL), Annual National Assessments (ANA) and Gauteng Province Literacy and Mathematics Strategy (GPLMS) have been launched in the past few years to improve literacy and numeracy results in the country. Notwithstanding, the increasing prevalence of low reading literacy results in South Africa raised questions about the effectiveness of interventions intended to improve reading results (in: GDE, Gauteng Primary Literacy Strategy, 2010–2014, Government Printer, Pretoria, 2010). Given the background of this study, the primary aim was to establish the essence of the participant FP teachers’ lived experiences regarding the implementation of interventions for reading literacy such as FFL, ANA and GPLMS in order to theorise about the effectiveness of these interventions. The secondary purpose was to add to the body of knowledge concerning FFL, ANA and GPLMS implemented as interventions to improve reading literacy results in South Africa. To achieve these purposes, a phenomenological case study was conducted at one of the 832 identified underperforming schools in Gauteng with eleven Foundation Phase teachers. Three methods were used to collect data namely focus group interviews, non face to face interviews and artefacts. The focus group interviews were held in grade context whilst interview forms were given to each of the eleven participants and they were requested to complete it comprehensively in the absence of the researcher. Data from all interviews were corroborated through selected artefacts which were mentioned during the interviews or discovered by the researcher throughout the study. The key findings of this study show that the participants perceived FFL, ANA and GPLMS as mandatory interventions for reading literacy that are unwanted and repetitious. Most importantly the participants deemed ANA as unreliable and unfair whilst FFL and GPLMS were deemed unsuitable for the diverse needs of the learners at this school. In view of the findings, this study concluded that there is limited value in providing mandatory interventions to teachers with the intent of improving the reading literacy results of learners with diverse needs that are contextually bound.

Challenges and Processes in School Turnaround A Singapore Secondary School Principal's Perspective

Singapore schools have a reputation of high achieving in the various international surveys, such as the TIMSS, PIRLS and PISA, in the past ten years. The latest PISA 2012 results ranked Singapore 2nd in Maths, 3rd in Reading and 3rd in Science. However, in the midst of such high achieving schools are schools which have been saddled with poor discipline, low morale among staff and students and under-performance in academic standards. A few of these schools have achieved remarkable turnaround. How do such schools managed to turnaround? PurposeThis paper presents the context, challenges and processes involved in turning around an under-performing school in Singapore through the experiences of a ‘turnaround’ principal. Considerations of important factors such as context, personality, leadership and five essential questions for the turnaround leader are discussed with references to effective schools, school improvement as well as corporate turnaround literature. ConclusionThe process of turning around schools is never an easy one. The principal as the chief driver of the turnaround needs the moral courage, the belief and competencies to do the job of turnaround. In the end he must make the seemingly impossible task possible through working with all stakeholders in the school.

Effective Leadership Conducive to Generation of Academic Performance in Schools

The purpose of this paper was to understand and compare two schools in relation to how effective leadership functions (instructional and transformational leadership) may have been utilized to arrive at differential academic outputs in schools. Towards this end, an exceptionally performing and under-performing school was chosen from within the same socio-economic context with a view to understand how instructional and transformational leadership could result in generating optimal academic performance. These selected schools are government owned and thus, receive similar treatment in terms of funding, control, commitment, management and control, etc. Therefore a major research question: How do selected leadership functions bring about generation of differential student’s exceptional academic performance in schools? Utilizing the qualitative research approach, data was collected from internal key role players (otherwise referred to School Leadership Team [SLT]) from two selected schools: one exceptional performing and the other, underperforming. Participants in the study are; Principals, Vice-principals and Heads of Department (HODs) from the two schools. I utilised one-on-one semi-structured interview, observations and document review to obtain rich data towards providing answers to the puzzle of the study. Findings among others indicate that monitoring, modelling, and internally funded training and development of teachers, ensured effective instructional delivery and up-date of knowledge in the teaching skills; and subject knowledge update of teachers in the exceptionally performing school, which impacted on student’s performance in the exceptionally performing school, compared to the exceptionally underperforming school. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p1868

The Role of School Management Teams in Underperforming Schools: A Matter of Values

There is a strong link between a value laden school, a School Management Team (SMT) and school performance. Schools require a management team that is able to steer agreed upon values that can underlie performance in order that teachers teach, learners learn and stakeholders provide requisite support. The intention is to get an underperforming school to progress from poor to fair, to good and ultimately to excellence. This study sought to highlight the extent to which desired performance and shared values are mutually connected in eradicating underperformance. This article synthesises on the study and provides a perspective on the SMTs role in driving the establishment of agreeable values and ethos that are consistently reflected in all its operations and activities in order to maintain an upward performance. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n3p475

Turning around an underperforming school

The challenge of turning an underperforming school around can be a daunting one. Principal Dara Carroll discusses some key areas which his school – Milton Keynes Academy – focused on to help turn things around.

A Case Study of a New High School Principal

This case study provides a contemporary look at a first year rural high school principal who is on the frontlines of the U.S./Mexico border struggles. Having taken over an underperforming school, this principal – in one year – moved the school accountability rating to Recognized status and is now focusing on the highest or Exemplary status for the forthcoming school year.

COACHING MIDDLE-LEVEL TEACHERS TO THINK ALOUD IMPROVES COMPREHENSION INSTRUCTION AND STUDENT READING ACHIEVEMENT

In an effort to improve student achievement, a group of middle-school teachers at an underperforming school developed a schoolwide literacy plan. As part of the plan, they agreed to model their thinking while reading aloud. Eight teachers were selected for coaching related to think alouds in which they exposed students to comprehension strategies that they used while reading. The achievement of their students was compared with the achievement of students whose teachers participated in the ongoing professional development but who were not coached. Results indicate that the coached teachers changed their instructional practices and that student achievement improved as a result.

Creating a Successful Professional Culture: Reorganizing to Rebuild a Challenging School

Teacher assignment policies vary among school districts. Frequently, districts handle basic employment requirements, and principals draw from prescreened teachers. However, schools occasionally may have to recruit many teachers at once when the district experiences a radical change. This case study involves a principal at an urban school in a district whose population is diminishing as students move to suburban, private, and charter schools. The district has reassigned the principal of a successful school to restaff an underperforming school. How should she proceed? The case explores issues that accompany selecting and developing staff to create a successful school culture in an uncertain setting.

An Australian model of successful school leadership

PurposeThis paper seeks to demonstrate how the principal was instrumental in turning around an underperforming school by using a leadership style that modelled appropriate behaviour, and which was consultative, conciliatory, inspirational and empathetic, through having a clearly articulated whole‐child‐focused educational philosophy, by building relationships and developing staff, and through displaying a range of appropriate personal qualities such as integrity, high energy, sensitivity, enthusiasm, and persistence.Design/methodology/approachThis was a multiple‐perspective, observational case study that included individual and group interviews with the principal, staff, parents and students, and involved shadowing the principal for a total of three days.FindingsThe four themes found in the original study remained important. In addition, the leadership of the assistant principal, and increasingly that of teachers working in teams, were important for success. During the study it became obvious that to move the school from a good school to a great school would likely require a different approach to leadership, changes to school direction, and new improvement strategies. The principal indicated that she was not able to do this and it was time for a new principal to take on this challenge.Originality/valueThis is part of a larger study that is revisiting case studies of successful principals to explore sustainability of successful school leadership and successful schools.

When Is a Student an English Learner? An Ethnographic Account of When Students and Educators Invoke the Institutional Identity “English Language Learner”

This article complicates the articulation of the achievement gap between native English speakers and English learners (ELs) as a problem rooted in English language proficiency. I challenge the institutional and popular imagination that 5.1 million ELs in the United States are “limited in English proficiency” and whose performance in school can be attributed to limited English proficiency. This argument is drawn from eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in a northern California High School where students identified as ELs were not a homogeneous-ability group with similar language needs. Yet there were occasions when educators echoed the concerns of education reformers and policy analysts by glossing the diversity of their EL population. In “explain failure events” the limited English proficiency of ELs was invoked to explain the academic failure of students and the school’s status as an underperforming school. I argue that the continued invocation and gloss of the diversity of ELs participates in the perpetuation of an ideology that ELs are a homogenous student population with similar educational needs. At best, the explanations offered by educators are partial descriptions of the situation of academic failure. I offer alternative explanations of academic failure by exploring the policy and cultural-ideological context of schooling.

Communicating School Change—Inside and Out

This article is a case study describing the 1992–2002 transformation of a public elementary school in Tempe, Arizona, from an under-performing school to a nationally recognized education model. We (one author was the principal of that school during its transformation and the other was an organization consultant to the school) describe the key elements of this transformation, which includes community-building, continuous self-assessment, and looking inward to reach outward. Rover Elementary School’s leadership also developed great skill at using school public relations strategies to build relationships with internal and external stakeholders and communicating about changes associated with the school’s continuous improvement efforts.