Large numbers of schools across the country are low performing and have been for years. This longstanding, widespread problem reveals that districts and states, as well as schools, wrestle with how to turn around struggling schools. Federal policy can play a key role in rectifying the systemic failures that allow schools to flounder. The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is a ripe opportunity to revise the law’s main program that supports school turnaround, the School Improvement Grant fund.
Join us as we hear from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who will outline the administration’s ESEA priorities for school turnaround. Sen. Kay Hagan will discuss the introduction of her school reward and turnaround bill, the STAR Act. A panel discussion will follow that examines how lessons learned from leading states and districts can inform the reauthorization of ESEA.