Improving Improvement: A Multi-Case Study of Turnaround Efforts in JCPS High Schools

Abstract

Under the terms of the NCLB Waiver, each state was required to identify and label the lowest-performing five percent of schools for "priority" status. Districts were offered four models from which they could choose: external management, re-staffing (turnaround), school closure, or transformation. Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) in Louisville, Kentucky has the highest concentration of priority schools in the Commonwealth, and like many districts, chose the "turnaround" model, which called for significant turnover in leadership and staff. Following several years of interventions, three high schools have exited priority status while eight remain identified. As such, JCPS has an interest in discerning what the three high schools that exited priority status did to improve and whether strategies they employed could be implemented at other district high schools.