Utah School Turnaround Success

In today’s world, high school graduates are faced with an economic reality that requires higher level skills in reading, writing, computing, problem-solving, and communicating than were required of previous generations. The economic reality is that post-secondary education is a requirement for most graduates to earn a living wage. Schools are in need of transformation to create the conditions necessary for higher student achievement. That’s where school turnaround policy comes in.

The challenge in Utah’s school turnaround policy is the same challenge that we all have with becoming the people we long to become: change is hard. To dramatically improve student learning, the professionals that work in schools must make commensurately dramatic changes in their daily practices.

Acknowledging this change challenge, the Education Direction school turnaround model adds implementation science to the research on teaching and leadership to deliver uniquely effective school turnaround results. In this paper, we will briefly outline the three key steps of Ed Direction’s turnaround model: Plan—Narrow the Focus, Implement—Go Slow to Go Fast, and Grow—Foster a Growth Mindset.