Mid-Sized Urban School Leaders Defy Ohio's Academic Stress Commission Through Peer-to-Peer Instructional Round Improvement Process

• In Event: Culturally Responsive Schools

Abstract

The challenges facing urban schools are notably researched. However, smaller urban districts and rural districts, also face substantial social, economic, and political inequities contributing to school failure. Ohio has engaged invasive practices for underperforming schools with the Academic Distress Commission (ADC), which relinquishes district control to third party entities. This mixed methods examination chronicles the nexus of Ohio’s ADC, the development of an Urban Leadership Collaborative, and a Peer-to-Peer Instructional model of academic improvement. Findings show that while all participants (ADC members, attorneys, community members, legislators, parents, school board members, and superintendents) recognize the need for improvement, the state intervention process is highly polarized, involving issues of constitutionality, local values and control, and the ideological validity of student progress reporting.

Authors

• Judy Jackson May, Bowling Green State University

• Kristina N. LaVenia, Bowling Green State University

• Christy Suzanne Galletta Horner, Bowling Green State University