A study examining the
strategies used by California principals who turned around underperforming
schools found three areas of focus: school culture,
instructional leadership and state standards.
S 28 Leadership
ince its inception in 2002, the mer- its of No Child Left Behind have been the subject of controversy and debate. Pressure to meet NCLB
mandates has driven school reform efforts, instructional practices, staff attitudes and school culture. As a result of NCLB’s pro- gressive achievement requirements, an in- creasing number of Title I schools have been identified as underperforming and labeled Program Improvement. Indeed, four per- cent of Title I schools, or 3,600 nationally, had failed to reach NCLB requirements in the 2007-08 school year, and by the next year, this number had doubled (Hoff, 2009). In California alone, 60 percent of public
schools received Title I federal funds and nearly half of those were designated as PI in 2009-10. During this time, only 2 percent of these schools subsequently met the man- dated benchmarks under NCLB and exited PI status (Ibarra, Santamaria, Lindsey & Daly, 2010; National Center for Education Statistics, 2010). In 2011-12, the number of California schools designated as PI in-
creased to more than 60 percent, and again, only 2 percent subsequently exited PI (Cali- fornia Department of Education). This illustrates the difficulty in meeting
NCLB requirements and more particularly in exiting PI. It further illustrates that a small percentage of schools are successful in exiting PI even while under the scrutiny and sanctions of program improvement.
Successful principals At the forefront of successful school ef-
forts to exit PI is the principal, who has the responsibility of overseeing the school cul- ture and supporting the quality of curricu- lar and instructional practices. This article summarizes interview findings from a qual- itative case study that explored the percep- tions of successful principals regarding the strategies and practices they implemented that resulted in Adequate Yearly Progress under NCLB and subsequent exiting of PI.
By Aaron Haughton and Sandra J. Balli
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