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University of Virginia
School Turnaround Specialist Program

School Turnaround Specialist Program Information

 UVASTSP participant

The University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program

The University of Virginia offers a comprehensive two-year School Turnaround Specialist Program to school districts committed to turning around low-performing schools. The School Turnaround Specialist Program entails a close working relationship between district personnel charged with supporting school turnaround efforts—referred to as the district shepherd—and the principals who have been identified to participate in School Turnaround Specialist Program and initiate the school turnaround.

The University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program consists of the type of executive education typically received only by top-level business leaders and is designed to address the leadership needs of education leaders charged with turning around low-performing schools.

The University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program includes coursework, case studies, and discussions to share information and practical experience in proven business and education turnaround strategies. Content areas include assessment of personal leadership qualifications, skills to lead change, data analysis, decision-making, setting targets, and creating action plans. School Turnaround Specialist Program participants also study business management strategies, organizational behavior and communication, and restructuring and renewal of troubled organizations.

The University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program program and real-time support takes place over the course of two years, with meetings both in Charlottesville and in participating school districts.  The School Turnaround Specialist program provides executive education and support for school principals and for district and school-level leadership teams associated with each school involved.


School Turnaround Specialist Program History 



In the spring of 2004, the Virginia Department of Education contracted with the Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education to design and implement the Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program. The program was a key component of Governor Mark Warner’s landmark Education for a Lifetime Initiative, a set of targeted reforms aimed at improving schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Drawing on his experience and expertise as a venture capitalist and successful businessman, Governor Warner wanted to develop a cadre of specially trained principals who would be the equivalent of turnaround managers in business. These individuals would have training and skills tailored to meet the task at hand― improving student achievement in Virginia’s lowest-achieving schools.

 

In the fall of 2004, Microsoft’s Partners in Learning program joined forces with the VDOE, the Governor’s office, and the Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education to create and support a nationally replicable model of the University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program. Subsequently, in July 2006, the Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education launched the national scale-up of the University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program by including 24 school turnaround specialists from Chicago, Philadelphia, and Broward County, FL., in addition to participants from Virginia. A fourth cohort of school turnaround specialist principals entered the program in the summer of 2007, including participants from Louisiana and Indian schools in North and South Dakota. A fifth cohort of school turnaround specialists from Chicago, Louisiana, Delaware and North Dakota started the program in 2008.  Thirty three turnaround principals from St. Louis, Kansas City, Southern Missouri, Cleveland and Cincinnati entered the School Turnaround Specialist Program in July of 2009.

 

School Turnaround Specialist Program Difference

 

Other school turnaround programs exist, but are mainly comprised of teams of coaches or mentors who only provide advice to particular principals on a weekly or monthly basis. Extant research indicates that these programs have limited effect. On the other hand, the University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program is the only school turnaround program in the country that combines a top business school and a top school of education to provide training and support to turnaround principals, as well as to district and school-level leadership teams. Moreover, rather than taking over the school as an outside management provider would, this program helps to build internal capacity within both schools and districts.

 

 

School Turnaround Specialist Program Implementation and Results

 

Results from the first three cohorts, totaling 43 school turnaround specialists show that the University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program is meeting its goal of raising student achievement in targeted schools. Approximately 57% of schools from Cohorts I, II, and III either made Adequate Yearly Progress, the benchmark set by NCLB, or saw at least a 5% reduction in failure rates in reading or math.

 

 

 

 

School Turnaround Specialist Program Success Stories


Education administrators from all across the United States discuss their experience with the University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program.

 

Illinois
 Flavia_Hernandez   Flavia Hernandez
Chief Officer
Chicago Public Schools
Choose connection »dial-up or broadband
 

Louisiana
 Joanne_Hood   Joanne Hood
Principal
Barret Elementary School
Louisiana
Choose connection »dial-up or broadband

 

Pennsylvania

    
 Darlynn_Gray   Darlynn Gray
Principal
McDaniel Elementary School
Philadelphia
Choose connection »dial-up or broadband
 Greg_Shannon   Greg Shannon
Regional Superintendent
Philadelphia School District
Choose connection »dial-up or broadband
     

School Turnaround Specialist Program Awards and Honors

Pioneer Institute’s Better Government Competition
National Finalist - June 24, 2008

The University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program was selected as a national finalist for the Pioneer Institute’s Better Government Competition. Pioneer Institute’s annual Better Government Competition showcases innovative ideas and programs to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government. Pioneer Institute is an independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization that seeks to change the intellectual climate in the Commonwealth by supporting scholarship that challenges the "conventional wisdom" on Massachusetts public policy issues.  


 

School Turnaround Specialist Program Core Essentials

  1. Knowledge and Skills
    • Leadership
    • Communication
    • Recruitment, placement and retention of highly qualified and effective teachers
    • Instructional Essentials
    • Organizational Behavior and Change Management
  2. Systems and Processes
    • Strategic Management Systems
    • Project Management Oversight Process
    • Quality Conditions for Instructional Success
    • Formative and Summative Assessments
    • Quality Tools
    • Performance Appraisal Systems
  3. Best Practices
    • Alignment
    • Characteristics of high performing schools/districts
    • Accountability
    • Data analysis
    • Managed instruction
    • Instructional interventions
    • Collaboration
  4. Real Time Support
    • Summer and Mid-year Executive Education Programs
    • Onsite District Retreats
    • E-consulting
    • Cluster Gatherings
    • Peer to Peer Coaching

 

School Turnaround Specialist Program Faculty 


The University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program draws upon Darden Business School’s more than 40 years of experience in delivering executive education programs and Curry School of Education's preeminence in the area of educational leadership to deliver a program based upon practical, relevant, and participant-focused teaching methods and materials. An integrated faculty team from Darden and Curry provides an appropriate balance between business and education practices based upon their expertise and years of experience as business executives, corporate board members, pre-collegiate educators and/or school administrators.

 

School Turnaround Specialist Program Research 


Research made possible through a grant from Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Program, investigated the University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program, providing insights into the factors that influence a successful school turnaround.

University Of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist 2008 Executive Summary

Key findings of the University of Virgina School Turnaround Specialist Program 2004-2008

Lift-Off:

The stories of 10 exceptional educators and their efforts to turn around 10 low-performing Virginia public schools.


Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program Research Executive Summary:

 

Executive Summary of Two Major Research Studies, 2004-2005


Keys to Sustaining Successful School Turnarounds: 

Fifteen case studies of elementary school turnaround initiatives that sustained improvements for at least two years were reviewed in order to identify the changes associated with the turnaround process.

 

Berkeley Elementary School Multi Media Case (2007)

In 2003, Berkeley Elementary School had lost federal No Child Left Behind accreditation and had failed to make the grade on Virginia's Standards of Learning. Almost immediately, new principal Catherine Thomas, a turnaround specialist with the  Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program , sees that her students are not making the grade, despite her efforts to train her faculty in using data to drive their teaching strategies. Having filled every spare minute of the school day, Thomas believed the only way to add more teaching time was to initiate an after-school program. But she met with uncharacteristic resistance from the administration: Teachers wouldn't teach it, students wouldn't attend, parents wouldn't support it, and the bus schedule wouldn't accommodate it. Thomas thought otherwise. How could she make her case? 

 

Dillard Elementary School Paper Case (2006) &  Multi Media Case

Verda Farrow, Superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, must recruit and hire a successor to replace Dillard Elementary School's current principal, the dynamic Pat Dixon. During her four-year tenure, Dixon changed the culture of the urban elementary school, elevated student performance, and raised the school's grade from D to A. Now that Dixon has accepted a new position in administration, Farrow must determine the type of leader to succeed Dixon's turnaround. She must decide what leadership traits are necessary to maintain the school's momentum, continue its high-performance, and sustain its "A" grade.

 

Stephen H. Clarke Academy Paper Case (2005)

As a  school turnaround specialist  hired to transform a poor-performing urban elementary school, J. Harrison Coleman implements a number of initiatives that she had proven successful at her previous school. Coleman's leadership is challenged as she finds that in addition to changing perceptions and expectations, merging cultures is an important part of any turnaround situation.  

School Turnaround Specialist Program Participant Comments

 

 

University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program Cohort 5

 

“The Program has really helped me to understand the business of school leadership and my role as a school leader. I have revised my leadership style and am building capacity and more effective communication in our school. Just like a carpenter, I am now equipped with the “tools” and knowledge needed to lead the change of our school culture which leads to improved student achievement.” - Perretta White Mitchell, Principal, A.P. Tureaud School, New Orleans, LA

 

“A program that covers all facets of school improvement” - Chip Anderson, High School Principal, Four Winds High School,Fort Totten, ND

 

“Informative, focused program geared to strengthen the skills of principals to turnaround the school.” - Karen Herndon, Director of Accountability, Jefferson Parish, LA.

 

“I wish all school leaders could be actively exposed to learning environments immersed in targeted, useful self-improvement of this caliber.” - Cheryllyn Branche, Principal, Recover District, New Orleans, LA

 

University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program Cohort 6

 

“This is what I’ve been looking for….we can turn our school around.” - Richard B. Bass, Principal, Jenning Junior High School, Jennings, MO

 

“The program itself is excellent and opens your eyes to new ways of thinking and planning for educating our greatest resource….our children!” - Dr. Cheryl Major Brandon, Ed.D. Educator, Louisiana Resource Center/East Baton Rouge Parish School System, LA

 

“Be prepared to have your thinking challenged.” - Wayne Walker, Associate Director, St. Louis Regional Professional Development Center, MO

 

“Wonderful, Excellent, Outstanding.” - George J. Henderson, Jr., Principal, Audubon, Cleveland, OH

 

“I have been given an invitation to turnaround our school….I accept! Everything about this program is exceptional-it is an honor and a privilege to be a member of Cohort 6.” - Claire Wallace, Principal, Caruthersville Public Schools, Caruthersville, MO

 

“Most meaningful professional development experience I’ve had.” - Phyllis Barks, Director of Board Development, Missouri School Board Association

 

“The focus of this program is on educating students and improving student performance, but they take it a step deeper. This program makes you look deep within yourself and touches the core of why you choose education as a career.” -Doug White, Principal,  Caruthersville, MO

 

“The University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program is a bold and innovative initiative that will lead to success in our country’s educational programs.” - Jeri Claire Crowder, Principal, Hayti School District, Hayti, MO

 

“The best leadership training I have received in my career. The creation of a 90 day plan will be tremendously valuable as we embark on these turnaround adventures in change.” - Shane Knight, Principal, Derrick Thomas Academy, Kansas City, MO

 

“I entered this program a principal; I am leaving this program a leader.” - Hodges, Principal, Caruthersville Middle School, Caruthersville, MO

 

School Turnaround Specialist Program Information and Registration 

 

The Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education has begun accepting applications for a 7th cohort of school turnaround specialists.  For University of Virginia School Turnaround Specialist Program details and registration information please e-mail Deborah Harriman or call (434) 924-8719

 

 

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P.O. Box 6550, Charlottesville, Virginia 22906-6550
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