Possibility or Peril? A Discourse Analysis of School Turnaround

• In Event: Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: The Possibility of School Turnaround: Research Studies of Turnaround Efforts at Different Levels

Abstract

Over the last decade, the increasing visibility of failing schools made powerful intervention – or a turnaround agenda – a policy priority for the federal government (Hess et al., 2008). As a result, in 2009, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called for the turnaround of 5,000 chronically underperforming schools (Salmonowicz, 2009). In spite of this new federal policy, there was not agreement in public discourse about turnaround. As a result, educators, researchers, policymakers, and the public often tell different stories of turnaround or convey different meanings when communicating using the turnaround discourse. This study – a discourse analysis of school turnaround as discussed by researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and the public– aims to uncover the implied meanings within the turnaround discourse.

Author

• Megin Charner-Laird, Salem State University