The TurnAround ToolKit
Managing Rapid, Sustainable School Improvement
- Lynn Winters - Long Beach Unified School District
- Joan Herman
Foreword by Carl A. Cohn
Based on the evidence that simply implementing "continuous improvement" is not enough to close the achievement gap, The Turnaround Toolkit provides a nine-step formative evaluation programme designed to achieve an immediate and consistent focus on improving instruction in order to bolster student achievement. In a straightforward and accessible fashion, Herman and Winters explain three overarching "Turnaround Tasks" that frame these steps and the necessary—and sometimes drastic—actions that must be taken by school leaders as they use data to strategically choose, implement, monitor, and revise school interventions.
A dedicated, online "toolkit" offers numerous worksheets and templates that support each stage of the process and help school leaders scaffold the work of educators to put an aggressive turnaround plan into action while a leadership guide at the end of the book provides guidance to turnaround teams and facilitators.
Supplements
The purpose of the web-based tools on this site is to provide you with templates and downloadable materials to support your work. We encourage you to modify these to fit your local needs. This website will be updated periodically with additional tools developed by users for the benefit of the "turnaround community." If you have created protocols, templates, or instructional material you have found useful in working with schools and are willing to share these, please submit them to us and share them with your colleagues.
“An absolute MUST-READ for school leaders who need to generate school improvement immediately! This book will help you make your school's ‘turnaround’ happen effectively.”
“Turning around struggling schools is a challenging issue policymakers everywhere face. Lynn Winters and Joan Herman explain not only what to do but how to do it, including useful tools to help educators get started. The TurnAround Toolkit should be read widely.”
"School leaders searching for a way to achieve dramatic, focused, positive school improvement will find this book valuable. The text's manageable tools will provide a focused guide for improving student achievement."
“The author goes to the heart of school improvement by addressing the critical need to elevate learning for all students through the use of formative data and evaluation.”
"Lynn Winters and Joan Herman understand there are no quick fixes to turning around low-performing schools. In this book, they draw on their hard-won experience to provide school leaders with the practical guidance necessary to succeed."
"Takes the current school improvement cycle and provides a focus on instruction and tools to get the job done."