History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
We know how to turn schools around—We just haven't done it
- 12-08-2009
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By Allan R. Odden/Education Week (subscription required)
School turnarounds are not a new phenomenon, despite their increased visibility as part of the Obama administration’s education agenda. For decades, America has been trying to turn around its low-performing schools and school districts. Because most of them enroll large numbers and substantial concentrations of students from low-income and minority backgrounds, this mission has a strong equity component. Guidelines for the administration’s Race to the Top initiative encourage states to focus reform efforts on the country’s 1,000 worst schools. These educational institutions are indeed bad for the country, but they are also an embarrassment for the education community—because we know how to fix them, and have not. In fact, we know how to literally double student performance in these places, and in the process take huge chunks out of the achievement gaps that separate students along racial and socioeconomic lines. (more...)
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