Behind the Headline: Most States Lacked Expertise to Improve Worst Schools

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Most States Lacked Expertise to Improve Worst Schools
5/6/15 | The Washington Post

Behind the Headline
The Turnaround Fallacy
Winter 2010 | Education Next

The Obama administration spent over $3 million on School Improvement Grants to states to help them turn around their lowest-performing schools, but a new report from the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education finds that most states lacked the capacity to improve those schools.

Andy Smarick has been expressing skepticism about the ability to turn around failing schools since at least 2010, when he wrote “The Turnaround Fallacy: Stop trying to fix failing schools. Close them and start fresh.” for Education Next.

He has also written about the problems with the School Improvement Grants program in particular here, here, and here.

– Education Next

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