Guiding Principles for Improving the Lowest-Performing Schools in Tennessee
Distilling research on school reform from several years, we compile a set of guiding principles for state efforts to improve low-performing schools.
About the Research
Like many states, Tennessee has sought to find the right approach toward intervening in low-performing schools. TERA will continue to build on an existing body of knowledge on school improvement efforts in the state and elsewhere to better understand the dynamics of chronic underperformance and the ways in which different intervention models can change them.
All Publications
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Over the Long-Haul: Examining the Long-Term Effects of School Turnaround
2022 - In this brief, we examine these long-term effects for students who attended either ASD or iZone schools. Specifically, we at the extent to which attending an ASD or iZone middle school between the 2012-13 and 2015-16 school years affected students' later achievement, attendance, disciplinary outcomes, graduation, and test scores in high school.
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Implementing School Improvement in the "iZone 2.0": A Case Study of Three Memphis Schools
2022 - In early 2020, we visited three newly designated iZone schools in Shelby County-one elementary, one middle, and one high school-to learn more about their implementation of the iZone 2.0 turnaround strategy, and to gauge the extent to which it aligned with the five principles of successful school turnaround identified by Henry et al. (2018). In this brief, we elaborate on each principle as we report our findings but note their similarity to the three levers for school turnaround articulated in Tennessee's ESSA plan: developing strong leadership, developing effective instruction, and creating student supports.
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School Administrators in Tennessee Turnaround Schools
2020 - This brief describes the characteristics of school administrators in Tennessee's two largest turnaround reform models - the state-led Achievement School District (ASD) and local Innovation Zones (iZones). Providing insights about the implementation of these two reforms, the brief describes the turnover, degree attainment, salary, and racial demographics of school administrators who led ASD and iZone schools during six years of reform.
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A Closer Look at Tennessee's 2018 Priority Schools
2019 - This brief considers the 2018 Priority Schools List in both a comparative and historical context by comparing the 2018 Priority Schools to other schools in the state, comparing schools on the 2018 list to schools identified in 2012 and 2014, and examining the variation in performance trajectories of schools on the 2012 Priority List.
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School Turnaround in Tennessee: Insights After Six Years of Reform
2019 - This brief examines student achievement gains six years into the implementation of Tennessee's two largest school turnaround efforts - the state-run ASD and the district-led iZones.
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Defining and Measuring Progress in Improving Low-Performing Schools
2018 - In this brief, we attempt to answer that question, but we first provide a framework of potential motivating rationales for engaging in turnaround work. We name three potential motivations for turnaround: excellence, equity, and efficiency. Each of these motivations comes with distinct definitions of "low-performing" and measures of progress. Then, under each rationale, we examine Tennessee's progress in driving improvement in low-performing schools over the last five years.
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Creating Conditions for Effective State Support for School Turnaround
2018 - TERA brought together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss how states and districts can better support successful school turnaround. This report provides an overview of the conference, as well as summaries and subsequent discussions of research presentations covering three topics: turnaround policies, state supports for student needs, and teacher pipelines.
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School Turnaround After Five Years: An Extended Evaluation of Tennessee's Achievement School District and Innovation Zones
2018 - In 2012, Tennessee began a series of bold new initiatives to turn around its lowest-performing five percent of schools, known as Priority schools. Building on previous research, this brief examines student achievement gains five years into the implementation of the two largest school turnaround efforts - the state-run Achievement School District and district-led iZones.
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How Has iZone Teacher Recruitment Affected the Performance of Other Schools?
2018 - This brief continues the examination of Tennessee's efforts to turn around its lowest performing schools by reviewing the extent to which statewide iZone teacher recruitment has impacted the schools from which these teachers came. Results indicate that students who lose teachers to iZone schools experience a slight decrease in achievement. However, these decreases do not appear to be large enough to offset the average achievement gains students experience when they attend iZone schools.
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Lessons from Five Years of Research on State Turnaround Efforts
2017 - In 2012, Tennessee implemented a school turnaround strategy focused on the bottom five percent of schools. Five years later, as the state considers updates to its school improvement strategy, this brief broadly considers how these policies developed and how they have worked in practice. Summarizing years of TERA research, the brief highlights findings on how turnaround schools have fared in terms of student achievement, teacher retention, and community engagement.
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Recruitment and Retention of Teachers in Tennessee's Achievement School District and iZone Schools
2017 - Examining data from the 2012-13 school year through 2014-15, the study focused on teachers in the two largest efforts to turn around Tennessee's priority schools - those that rank in the bottom 5 percent in performance. Overall, both ASD and iZone schools recruited more highly effective teachers compared to other Priority and non-Priority schools in Tennessee. Annual teacher turnover rates were much higher among ASD schools than among iZone schools. Both the ASD and iZone schools experienced significantly higher gains in teacher effectiveness through teacher replacement than did other Priority schools in Tennessee. This was particularly evident in iZone schools.
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"This is the Big Leagues:" Charter-led Turnaround in a non-Charter World
2016 - With mounting evidence of promising results in charter schools serving disadvantaged students, charter networks have been urged to expand their reach to turn around the most chronically low-achieving schools. This article addresses those questions using evidence from a three-year study of charters in the Tennessee Achievement School District. We discuss how operators were pressed to substantially revise their core assumptions and strategies in response to this new environment, despite the many charter-like affordances they received.
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The Tennessee Achievement School District: Race, History, and the Dilemma of Public Engagement
2016 - The Tennessee Achievement School District (ASD) is one of several state-run districts established to turn around under-performing schools. Like other such districts, the ASD removes schools from their local district, yet is not accountable to local political institutions. But despite its authority, the ASD has been undermined by unrelenting opposition from within Memphis where its schools reside. Underlying the political dynamics surrounding the ASD are two divergent narratives. For supporters, the ASD is an innovative effort to improve the educational experience fo the most disadvantaged students. Critics see an enterprise motivated by profit, paternalism, and racism. One lesson from the ASD experience is that while state-run districts seek to circumvent local politics, the absence of mechanisms for brokering compromise in cities with deep historical divisions may prove impossible.
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Teacher and Student Migration in and out of Tennessee's Achievement School District
2015 - This report discusses teacher turnover and student mobilities in Tennessee's Achievement School District. Researchers found that the majority of teachers left their schools after the first year of the intervention, and the ASD faced a significant need to hire new teachers.
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Evaluation of the Effect of Tennessee's Achievement School District on Student Test Scores
2015 - This brief summarizes the effects of Tennessee's Achievement School District on students' academic performance. While the effects across all Priority schools were small but positive, the effects in the 26 iZone schools were positive and moderate to large across all tested subjects. The effects in the ASD schools were mainly indistinguishable from zero, and when significant, those effects were sometimes positive and sometimes negative depending on subject and management organization.
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Research into Tennessee's Achievement School District: Accountability, Incentives, and Guidance for Providers
2015 - This report elaborates the theory of action that undergirds the Tennessee Achievement School District (ASD), including the ideological commitments of ASD leaders, and the strategy they think will lead to improvement in student outcomes. Researchers examine underlying beliefs of ASD providers, highlighting fundamental differences in their beliefs about teaching and learning. In addition, the report discusses the difficulty of using state assessment to support organizational learning among providers and the ASD leadership.
John and Laura Arnold Foundation and Walton Family Foundation Reports
Below are reports for the John and Laura Arnold Foundation and Walton Family Foundation from the ongoing work of evaluating school turnaround in Tennessee including analysis of the Achievement School District (ASD) and Innovation Zones.
- Lessons Learned from Research on the Effects and Implementation of School Turnaround Policies, Conference Summary (2018)
- Evaluating the Impact of Tennessee's Achievement School District: Third Annual Report (2017)
- Evaluating the Impact of Tennessee's Achievement School District: Second Annual Report (2016)
- Evaluating the Impact of Tennessee's Achievement School District: First Annual Report (2015)