Public Impact

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • What We Do
  • Media
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
Innovation. Excellence. Service. Impact.
  • Opportunity Culture
  • Teachers & Principals
    • Teacher Leadership
    • Recruit, Select, and Keep Education Talent
    • Competencies of High Performers
    • Evaluating Teacher and Leader Performance
    • Teacher and Leader Compensation
    • Professional Development for Educators
  • Turnarounds
    • Turnarounds Within Schools
    • Restarts by Charter Operators
    • Innovation Zones
  • Funding
    • School Funding
  • Charters
    • Charter School Authorizing
    • Scaling Up Quality
    • Restarts in Failing Schools
    • High Market Share Cities
    • State and Federal Charter School Policy
    • Help for Charter Schools
    • Serving Students with Highest Needs
  • More Topics
    • Big Ideas for Education
    • Entrepreneurship in K-12
    • Parents and Community
    • Philanthropy in Education
    • Special Populations
    • Technology in Schools
    • Assessment and Data

Opportunity Culture Voices: Extending Great Teachers’ Reach in Turnaround (or Any) Schools

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on April 25, 2017

What does the start of a school turnaround look like? When Mark Johnson left West Charlotte High School as his Teach for America stint ended, he likely could not have imagined a bright future for the school. I arrived a year later, in 2009. The high-poverty, highly segregated school was struggling, and I stayed only one year.

But my heart didn’t leave West Charlotte. When I had the chance to return in 2014 and make a difference as a teacher-leader, I jumped on it — I wanted to help spark a turnaround. This year, when Johnson, now North Carolina’s new state superintendent, visited, he said he saw “a different world over here.”

When he taught at the school, he explained as I showed him around, the “team” of instructors teaching earth sciences had exactly one meeting during two years. I remembered the mindset then: in my first year at West Charlotte, a co-worker threw a box at me for asking if I could have access to the supply closet to look for lab materials. And my mentor teacher’s best — only — advice for classroom management? Yell louder.

But now, three years after I returned, the school’s science wing is calm, students are learning and showing growth, and teachers collaborate daily.

Here’s how it happened…

–Charlotte, N.C., Multi-Classroom Leader Erin A. Burns in How to Extend the Reach of Great Teachers in Turnaround (or Any) Schools

Biology MCL Erin A. Burns has written before about aspects of her work leading a teaching team focused on student growth and powered by engaging lessons that respond to what the data tell them about students’ needs. In this column, she introduces the readers of The 74 to the basics of multi-classroom leadership and how her ability to provide extensive, intensive support to teachers while continuing to work directly with students has made a marked difference in student achievement and school culture. Get inspired–read her full column here.

About Sharon Kebschull Barrett

Sharon Kebschull Barrett is a senior editor with Public Impact. She edits the Public Impact and Opportunity Culture blogs, copyedits Public Impact's reports, and provides research and writing for the firm. Her recent work focuses on extending the reach of excellent teachers, charter schools, and state policy. A former newspaper reporter and copy editor, Ms. Barrett is the author of two cookbooks, Desserts from an Herb Garden and Morning Glories (St. Martin's Press). She has a B.A. in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she served as editor of The Daily Tar Heel.

Public Impact®

Public Impact, LLC
Chapel Hill, NC
919-240-7955

Public Impact encourages the free use, reproduction, and distribution of our materials, but we require attribution. If you adapt the materials, you must include on every page “Adapted from PublicImpact.com; Copyright Public Impact” in the font size specified here.

Materials may not be sold, leased, licensed, or otherwise distributed for compensation. See our Terms of Use page or contact us for more information.

Public Impact is certified as a living wage employer by Orange County Living Wage.

Search

Subscribe

Sign Up for E-News!
 


 
Read Back Issues of our
E-Newsletter

 
Subscribe to our blog with RSS

Follow

New from Public Impact

Learning in Real Time—How Charter Schools Served Students During Covid-19 Closures
Profiles highlight how charter schools were able to respond quickly to school closures during the pandemic and continue to serve their students well.

Building an Effective Staff—Profiles of Leaders of Color
Three-part series looks at how being a person of color affected the ways in which successful charter school leaders built schools where students, families, and staff learn, grow, and thrive.

Engaging Families—Profiles of Leaders of Color
Three-part series looks at how being a person of color affected the ways in which successful charter school leaders built schools where students, families, and staff learn, grow, and thrive.

Building a Strong School Culture—Profiles of Leaders of Color
Three-part series looks at how being a person of color affected the ways in which successful charter school leaders built schools where students, families, and staff learn, grow, and thrive.

The Impact of School Restarts—Lessons from Four Indianapolis Schools
Report analyzes how enrollment, demographic, and student performance data changed following the restarts of four charter schools in Indianapolis, IN.

Learning from Project L.I.F.T.—Legacy of a Public-Private School Turnaround Initiative
Report examines successes, challenges, and lessons from a private-public district turnaround initiative.

The Potential of a Virtual Education—Lessons from Virtual Schools with Results 
Report highlights two virtual charter schools making online schooling work for their students and identifies lessons and recommendations for virtual schools.  

Public Impact, LLC | 919-240-7955 | Terms of Use | © Public Impact 2000-2020 | Wordpress website design by LeGa Design Group


Don’t miss the latest Public Impact reports:
Sign-up for our newsletter!



×