UVA-PLE - Research & Resources

Case Studies & News

Developing Turnaround Leadership: An Example from Utah's Ogden School District
WestEd’s West Comprehensive Center partnered with UVA-PLE to strengthen leadership in Ogden, UT, preparing principals to drive successful school turnaround in the Southwest.

City Schools of Decatur Aiming to Refocus Equity Work on Students
Superintendent Dr. Gyimah Whitaker leads Decatur’s renewed equity agenda, using strategic partnerships and leadership development to center student success and collective excellence.

Four Local Schools Hit Highest State Accreditations
Four Cortez campuses that were once on the state’s accountability plan achieved the highest accreditation rating, marking a significant milestone in their turnaround efforts.

Lift-off: Launching the School Turnaround Process in 10 Virginia Schools
Ten Virginia schools partnered with UVA-PLE to jumpstart the turnaround process, laying the groundwork for rapid improvement through bold leadership moves, clear planning, and targeted support.

Research

Evidence That In-Service Professional Learning for Educational Leaders Matters
A study of New Mexico achievement data shows that extended professional learning for principals and district leaders through UVA-PLE improves math outcomes and boosts English learner performance, highlighting the value of ongoing in-service development.

An Exploration of How District Leaders Organize to Support Principal Supervisors in Mid-sized Districts
Interviews across five mid-sized districts reveal how reorienting the principal supervisor role from management to instructional support can build leadership capacity and strengthen outcomes in underperforming schools.

Examining Three School Systems’ Actions Linked to Improving Their Lowest-performing Schools
This research identifies concrete leadership practices and “sub-practices” that enabled three districts to successfully support turnaround, showing how facilitative district leadership drives sustained improvement.

Characteristics of High-performing School Districts
A mixed-methods study of 49 Ontario districts highlights nine characteristics linked to achievement growth in math and language, offering practical lessons for policy and practice.

Research Use as Learning: The Case of Fundamental Change in School District Central Offices
Analysis across six districts shows that turning research into practice requires strong internal leadership to translate ideas, underscoring the importance of learning processes within central offices.

Changing the Principal Supervisor Role to Better Support Principals
Districts that shifted supervisors’ roles to focus on instruction saw principals report stronger support and improved instructional leadership.

How Principals Affect Students and Schools: A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research
A landmark synthesis identifies four core practices—anchored in instructional focus—that explain how principals influence teaching quality and student outcomes.

Resources

Exploring New Frontiers in K12 Transformation
Based on interviews with leaders nationwide, this report highlights bold shifts in K–12 transformation since the pandemic, offering insights on how systems can advance excellence and equity.

How Districts and States Can Support Instructional Transformation in the Turnaround Context
Drawn from two UVA-PLE district partners, this paper outlines key instructional strategies—diagnosing learning needs and delivering rigorous, evidence-based instruction—that drive effective turnaround.

4 Domains for Rapid School Improvement
Developed by the Center on School Turnaround with UVA-PLE support, this framework defines four critical domains that enable rapid and sustainable school improvement.

A Rubric for Assessing Schools' Plans for Rapid Improvement
A planning tool with 12 domains to guide districts in creating effective school improvement plans, supporting both year-long and short-cycle strategies.

Leading Indicators of School Turnaround
A guide for quickly identifying when schools are off track and redirecting resources toward urgent improvement.

Examples of Actions Taken by Principals Trying to Lead Turnaround
Real-world examples of principals’ strategies for school turnaround, designed to inspire new approaches for leaders and teacher teams.

Promising Leadership Practices for Rapid School Improvement That Lasts
Highlights practices from five principals who achieved successful turnarounds and sustained student growth for years beyond initial gains.

Recruit, Select and Support: Turnaround Leader Competencies
A three-part professional learning module— developed through a partnership between the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, the Center on School Turnaround, Public Impact and the University of Virginia Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education — that equips state and district leaders to identify and develop turnaround leaders using research-based competencies.

School Turnaround Leaders: Competencies for Success
A research-informed guide describing the traits and characteristics of successful turnaround leaders to help districts identify strong candidates.

School Turnaround Leaders: Selection Toolkit
A practical toolkit providing measurable competencies and tools to select high-performing leaders in turnaround contexts.

Thought Leadership Forum Brief: Turnaround Leadership and Leadership Competencies
A summary of national forums exploring how turnaround leader competencies can be used for recruitment, development, and ongoing support of principals.

Using Competencies to Improve School Turnaround Principal Success
Examines how leader characteristics, combined with district and state support, influence the success of turnaround principals.

“What it Takes” for a Turnaround: Principal Competencies that Matter for Student Achievement
A practice-based guide to identifying and supporting principals with the competencies proven to drive student achievement in turnaround schools.

Case Studies & News

Gallup-McKinley County Schools, New Mexico
Once the lowest-performing large district in New Mexico, Gallup-McKinley transformed into one of the state’s top growth districts for five consecutive years through bold leadership and system-level change.

Lincoln Elementary School, Ogden, Utah
This case study highlights Lincoln Elementary’s partnership with UVA-PLE to accelerate student outcomes, strengthen leadership, and align district supports for turnaround success.

Ocotillo Elementary School, Washington, Arizona
Ocotillo Elementary demonstrates how targeted leadership development and instructional focus enabled a high-need school to shift performance and build momentum for sustained improvement.

From the Forum to the Future
An emergent resource co-created from leader insights, panel discussions, and collective wisdom, offering practical guidance to help teams design more just, equitable, and impactful systems for transformation.

Research

Learning Together to Lead Together: Designing Professional Learning to Strengthen Principal and District Leadership
A case study of the University School Systems Program (USSP) shows how sustained, collaborative professional learning across roles helps superintendents, principal supervisors, and principals strengthen leadership practices and improve underperforming schools.

Central Office Leadership for Instructional Improvement: Developing Collaborative Leadership Among Principals and ILTs
Research in three high-poverty high schools highlights how principal supervisors and instructional leadership teams (ILTs) worked together to build instructional capacity, shifting the supervisor role from oversight to teaching and collaborative support.

Establishing Productive Principal/Principal Supervisor Partnerships for Instructional Leadership
Drawing on 12 case studies, this research identifies the qualities and stages of effective supervisor–principal partnerships that foster joint work and meaningful growth in principals’ instructional leadership.

Supporting Principal Supervisors: What Really Matters?
Analysis of two studies reveals that principal supervisors thrive when they adopt a teaching-and-learning approach, supported by mentoring from district leaders, peer collaboration, and protected time for professional growth.

The Role of District Leaders for Organizational Social Capital
Survey and network data from Dutch school districts demonstrate how leaders can strengthen social capital by focusing on educational goals and supporting principals, with implications for governance and school improvement.

Leading for Urban School Reform and Community Development
A cross-case study of two community schools shows how principals and community leaders collaborated across boundaries, positioning schools as community assets and advancing both student achievement and neighborhood development.

Resources

District Readiness to Support School Turnaround
A practical guide for states and districts to assess their capacity and readiness to launch and sustain school turnaround initiatives.

Prioritizing Talent in Turnaround
Findings and recommendations from UVA-PLE research on how districts can attract, recruit, and support high-potential principals and teachers in low-performing schools.

Coaching and Developing Turnaround Leader Actions
A professional learning module that connects turnaround leader competencies to real-world actions, offering strategies for coaching and developing leaders for school improvement.

Case Studies & News

Compliance to Capacity: Colorado’s Evolving Approach to District Improvement
A case study of the Colorado Department of Education’s evolving approach to district improvement, examining how CDE moved from a compliance-centered model toward a more coherent system that pairs accountability with capacity-building, aligned funding, technical assistance, and strategic partnerships.

Boulder Valley Partner Spotlight: Systemwide Growth Through Coherent Improvement
A multi-year look at Boulder Valley School District’s partnership with UVA-PLE, documenting district-wide achievement gains, significant school-level improvements, and leader insights on building and sustaining a coherent system for instructional improvement.

Striving for Excellence in Colorado: Englewood School District’s Transformation Journey from State Watch to Systemwide Improvement
A district-level case on how Englewood Schools aligned curriculum, assessments, PLCs, and principal support to build a coherent system—based on interviews, PLE site visits, and public data.

Rocky Mountain Heights: Colorado School District Finds Path to Improvement through UVA-PLE
Aurora Public Schools’ Northeast zone launched a transformation with UVA-PLE support, turning around five schools on the state’s priority list and scaling strategies across the district.

State-Initiated School Turnaround Strategies: Leveraging the State Education Agency to Drive Meaningful Change
This case study highlights how state education agencies play a pivotal role in launching and sustaining school turnaround efforts, using bold strategies to drive systemic change.

Boulder Valley Accelerates Achievement
Three Boulder Valley schools partnering with UVA-PLE outpaced pre-pandemic performance, advancing achievement for historically underserved students through focused leadership and instructional shifts.

Charleston County Acceleration Zone Experiences Strong Growth During 2021–22
Persistently underperforming schools in Charleston County posted notable gains through the Acceleration Zone strategy, showing early evidence of turnaround momentum.

Caddo Becomes Highest Performing Large School System in Louisiana
Caddo Parish became one of only two Louisiana districts to improve in all nine state performance categories, setting a statewide benchmark for growth.

Fulton County Schools Achievement Zone Transformation
Ten struggling schools were revitalized under Fulton County’s Achievement Zone, with lessons from that work reshaping districtwide strategies and culture.

Fair Park High School, Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Fair Park High School’s turnaround illustrates how targeted leadership development and system supports can accelerate student success in a historically underperforming school.

Northeast Elementary School, Farmington, New Mexico
Farmington’s Northeast Elementary leveraged UVA-PLE partnerships to strengthen instructional capacity and leadership, leading to measurable gains in student learning.

Research

Assessing School Turnaround: Evidence from Ohio
A comparative study of 20 Ohio schools in UVA-PLE’s turnaround program shows significant and lasting student achievement gains, continuing even after the two-year program ended.

Missouri and Ohio Schools Make Significant Improvement Through UVA Turnaround Program
Using a triple-differences model, this study of 34 schools demonstrates that participation in UVA-PLE’s School Turnaround Specialist Program led to statistically significant improvements in student performance.

School Leadership Interventions Under the Every Student Succeeds Act: Evidence Review
RAND’s review of leadership interventions under ESSA identifies the UVA-PLE model, alongside KIPP, as one of the few with strong evidence of impact on school outcomes.

Using External Providers to Improve Schools
This analysis explores how external providers offer varied instructional, curricular, and social-emotional supports to schools, and compares the evidence of effectiveness across different models.

District-led School Turnaround: A Case Study of One District’s Efforts to Initiate Multiple Turnarounds
A rare empirical look at district leadership in turnaround, showing how bold, intentional actions by a mid-sized district spurred system-wide change across multiple schools.

Planning for What? An Analysis of Root Cause Quality and Content in School Improvement Plans
A study of 111 school improvement plans reveals weaknesses in root cause analysis, with many principals attributing failure to teachers rather than systemic issues—highlighting a need for deeper diagnostic capacity.

Beyond Turnaround: A Synthesis of Relevant Frameworks for Sustained Improvement
A literature review synthesizes frameworks from education and other sectors to identify practices that help leaders sustain and grow improvement in schools long after initial turnaround efforts.

Resources

An Overview of the Levers and Conditions for Transformation
A synthesis of research and practice that identifies the organizational conditions most essential for achieving and sustaining transformation, grounded in more than 17 years of UVA-PLE experience.

State-Initiated School Turnaround Strategies: Leveraging the State Education Agency to Drive Meaningful Change
An analysis of eight states’ approaches to launching turnaround models, offering lessons and best practices for states and districts seeking to scale systemic improvement.

School Turnarounds: A Review of the Cross-Sector Evidence on Dramatic Organizational Improvement
A broad review of evidence on effective practices in school and non-school settings, clarifying what makes organizational improvement both dramatic and sustainable.

School Turnarounds: Actions and Results
Provides real-world vignettes of leader actions during turnaround, illustrating how specific strategies have produced measurable improvement in low-performing schools.

Importing Leaders for School Turnaround – Lessons and Opportunities
Explores the potential of leaders from outside education—such as the military, nonprofits, and health sectors—to bring valuable skills to public school turnaround efforts.

No Time to Lose: Turnaround Leader Performance Assessment
A guide for districts to rigorously and rapidly assess leader performance in turnaround contexts, ensuring accountability and effective use of limited resources.

Systems Leadership

Understanding District Support for Leader Development and Success in the Accountability Era

This literature review uses social-cognitive theories of motivation to examine how districts support principals’ learning and development in an era of heightened accountability. It highlights both theoretical gaps and practical strategies districts use to create conditions for principal success.

Ford, T. G., Lavigne, A. L., Fiegener, A. M., & Si, S. (2020). Review of Educational Research, 90(2), 264–307.

Principal Competencies that Make a Difference: Identifying and Validating a Model for School Turnaround

This study seeks to illuminate principal competencies that support an individual's ability to influence turnaround as evidenced by increased student achievement.

Hitt, D. H., Meyers, C. V., Zhu, G., & Woodruff, D. (2018).  Journal of School Leadership.

Research Use as Learning: The Case of Fundamental Change in School District Central Offices

Drawing on six district case studies, this research shows how central office administrators engage with and adapt research to improve teaching and learning, emphasizing the importance of internal leadership in translating ideas into practice.

Honig, M. I., Venkateswaran, N., & McNeil, P. (2017). American Educational Research Journal, 54(5), 938–971.

School Turnaround Principals: What Does Initial Research Literature Suggest They Are Doing to be Successful?

As the research literature on principals leading school turnaround grows, determining whether or not real differences between good — even effective — principals and turnarounds becomes increasingly important.

Meyers, C. V. & Hitt, D. H. (2017). Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk.

Support & Accountability

Planning for What? An Analysis of Root Cause Quality in School Improvement Plans

Analysis of 111 school improvement plans shows that many principals identify surface-level or teacher-focused causes rather than systemic ones, highlighting the need for stronger diagnostic practices to guide school improvement.
Meyers, C. V., & VanGronigen, B. A. (2021). Journal of Educational Administration, 59(4), 437–453.

Tight, Loose, or Decoupling? District–Principal Decision-Making Power

National survey data reveal how decision-making power is shared (or not) between districts and principals. While curriculum and standards are tightly coupled, personnel and budget decisions often reflect loose or decoupled relationships.

Xia, J., Shen, J., & Sun, J. (2020). Educational Administration Quarterly, 56(3), 396–434.

Supporting Principal Supervisors: What Really Matters?

Through re-examined data and sociocultural learning theory, this study highlights the conditions under which principal supervisors successfully shift from compliance-focused oversight to instructionally supportive, teaching-oriented roles.

Honig, M. I., & Rainey, L. R. (2019). Journal of Educational Administration, 57(5), 445–462.

Six Districts Begin the Principal Pipeline Initiative

The initiative’s theory of change holds that when an urban district and its partners provide aspiring principals with training, evaluation and support following these specifications, the result will be a pipeline of principals able to improve teaching quality and student achievement.

Turnbull, B.J.,  Riley, D. L.,  Arcaira, E. R., Anderson, L. M., & MacFarlane, J. R. (2013).  Wallace Foundation.

No One Way: Differentiating School District Leadership and Support for School Improvement

This article examines findings from a qualitative investigation of how school district administrators in four mid- to large sized urban school districts (10,000–50,000) identify and address differences in school performance. The analysis explores the interaction between district policies and actions that centralize and standardize expectations for teaching, learning and leadership, and those that lead to the differentiation of district support to schools depending upon their identified needs.

Anderson, S. E., Mascall, B., Stiegelbauer, S., Park, J. (2012). Journal of Educational Change.

Talent Management

Using Teacher Effectiveness Data for Information-Rich Hiring

Interviews and surveys across six urban districts show how principals incorporate teacher effectiveness data into hiring, with variation shaped by central office practices, principal skills, and perceptions of data validity. The study underscores the need to support principals in using data for human capital decisions.

Cannata, M., Rubin, M., Goldring, E., Grissom, J. A., Neumerski, C. M., Drake, T. A., & Schuermann, P. (2017). Educational Administration Quarterly, 53(2), 180–222.

School Turnaround Through Scaffolded Craftsmanship

The following study provides a unique internal perspective on changes made in schools that “turned around” versus schools that are in the process of “turning around” versus schools that are “stuck.”

Thompson, C. L., Henry, G. T., & Preston, C. (2016). Teachers College Record.

Teacher Recruitment and Retention: A Review of the Recent Empirical Literature

This article critically reviews the recent empirical literature on teacher recruitment and retention published in the United States. It examines the characteristics of individuals who enter and remain in the teaching profession, the characteristics of schools and districts that successfully recruit and retain teachers, and the types of policies that show evidence of efficacy in recruiting and retaining teachers. 

Guarino, C. M., Santibanez, L., & Daley, G. A. (2006). Review of Educational Research.

Instructional Infrastructure

The Good Struggle of Flexible Specificity: Districts Balancing Specific Guidance with Autonomy

Case studies across five districts illustrate how balancing flexibility with specific guidance—what researchers call “flexible specificity”—helps align curriculum and professional learning while supporting teacher autonomy in implementing standards.

Stornaiuolo, A., Desimone, L., & Polikoff, M. (2023). American Educational Research Journal, 60(3), 521–561.

Coordinating Leadership Supports for Teachers’ Instructional Improvement

This study shows how principals and instructional coaches successfully coordinate their work across meetings, classroom visits, and informal interactions to support teachers’ instructional growth, particularly in mathematics.

Gibbons, L. K., Wilhelm, A. G., & Cobb, P. (2019). Journal of School Leadership, 29(3), 248–268.

Research Use as Learning: The Case of Fundamental Change in School District Central Offices

A growing number of school districts across the country have been exploring or initiating reforms that call for major changes in how their central offices support the ambitious equity goal of high-quality teaching and learning for each student and intentionally turning to what they consider “research” to guide the process. 

Honig, M.I.,  Venkateswaran, N., & McNeil, P. (2017). American Educational Research Journal. 

Effective Instructional Time Use for School Leaders: Longitudinal Evidence from Observations of Principals

Scholars have long argued that principals should be instructional leaders, but few studies have empirically linked specific instructional leadership behaviors to school performance. This study examines the associations between leadership behaviors and student achievement gains using a unique data source: in-person, full-day observations of approximately 100 urban principals collected over three school years. 

Grissom, J. A., Loeb, S., & Master, B. (2013).  Educational Researcher.

Linking the Central Office and Its Schools for Reform

This study investigates how linkages between a central office and its schools served as administrative controls while fostering professional accountability and organizational learning. 

Johnson, P. & Chrispeels, J. (2010). Educational Administration Quarterly.