The Relationship Between School Turnaround and Student Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis

• In Event: Examining the Intersections of Federal Policy, State Policy, and Professionalization

Abstract

School turnaround has emerged as a predominant strategy to improve chronically low-performing schools, although the approach remains controversial. This meta-analysis synthesizes results from 34 studies, to examine the relationship between school turnaround and various student outcomes. We find school turnaround is associated with improved attendance, proficiency rates, graduation rates, and standardized test scores. When separating the results by different turnaround model, transformation, turnaround, and restart models are associated with the largest improvements in student test scores. We find no evidence of a significant relationship between school closure and student test scores. We describe how changes in organizational operations, human capital, and the governance and/or management of low-performing schools might have contributed to this observed relationship.

Authors

• Christopher Redding, University of Florida

• Tuan D Nguyen, Kansas State University