Turnaround in the Era of Common Core and the Every Student Succeeds Act: Can Standards and Accountability Work Together to Improve Schools?

• In Event: 18.052 - School Turnaround and Reform Efforts: Leadership to Augment Professional Capital and Student Learning

Abstract

This research examines one school’s efforts to design and enact systems which uphold rigorous, student-centered instruction while simultaneously responding to the challenges of a turnaround district. Our findings suggest that standards-based reforms and new accountability structures reflect competing incentives and values and create different definitions of success. We conclude that while rigor and accountability are not mutually exclusive, they can be implemented at the school level in ways that pose challenges to school leaders’ efforts to build systems that will consistently improve teaching and learning over time. Ultimately, we demonstrate the need to find ways to design systems so that accountability enhances the commitment to rigorous standards rather than undermining it.

Authors

• Cori Egan, The George Washington University

• Joelle Deleveaux, The George Washington University