School Turnaround in Tennessee: Insights After Six Years of Reform

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 six years into the implementation of the Achievement School District (ASD) and Innovation Zones (iZones).

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Published:
July 2019

Authors:
Lam Pham
Gary T. Henry
Adam Kho
Ron Zimmer

Key Findings

 

  • Averaging across all subjects in all years of intervention, iZone interventions have positive and statistically significant effects in math and science. In reading, the average effect is smaller and borderline in terms of statistical significance.
  • Moderate to large positive and statistically significant effects for iZone schools in the first two years of turnaround largely drive the overall effects.
  • Overall, ASD schools perform no better or worse than comparison schools in any subject or any cohort throughout the six year period.
  • The effects of individual cohorts of ASD and iZone schools vary considerably with positive effects for the first two cohorts of iZone schools, negative results for the fifth cohort, and negative results for the second cohort of ASD schools. Our descriptive evidence suggests that negative effects in the fifth cohort of iZone schools may be driven by decreased effectiveness among incoming teachers.

Methods

This analysis uses a difference-in-difference (DID) approach to compare the changes in test scores from the baseline year in the ASD and iZone schools to the scores after they initiated reforms with the changes in test scores during the same period in the other Priority schools that did not receive a reform. The data include student- and teacher-level demographic characteristics, student test scores from the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP), End of Course Exams (EOCs), and TNReady, and school enrollment data from 2006-2007 to 2017-2018. 

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Lam Pham

Lam Pham

Lam D. Pham is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at North Carolina State University

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Gary T. Henry

Gary T. Henry

Gary T. Henry is dean of the University of Delaware's College of Education and Human Development and professor in the School of Education and the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy & Administration

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Adam Kho

Adam Kho

Adam Kho is an Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education

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Ron Zimmer

Ron Zimmer

Ron Zimmer is a Professor and Director of the Martin School of Public Policy and Administration at University of Kentucky.

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