A Third Way: The Politics of School District Takeover and Turnaround in Lawrence, Massachusetts

Abstract

School district superintendents say politics is the number one factor limiting their performance, yet research provides limited guidance on navigating the political dynamics of district improvement. State takeovers and district-wide turnaround efforts tend to involve particularly heated and polarized debates. Massachusetts' 2012 takeover of the Lawrence Public Schools provides a rare case of state takeover and district turnaround that both resulted in substantial early academic improvements and generated limited controversy. Method: To describe the stakeholder response and learn why the reforms were not more contentious, I analyzed press coverage of the Lawrence schools from 2007 to 2015, public documents, and two secondary sources of survey data on parent and educator perceptions of the schools. I also interviewed turnaround and stakeholder group leaders at the state and district level regarding the first 3 years of reform. Findings: I find that the local Lawrence context and broader statewide accountability system help explain the stakeholder response. Furthermore, several features of the turnaround leaders' approach improved the response and reflected a "third way" orientation to transcending polarizing political disagreement between educational reformers and traditionalists. Examples include leaders' focus

Parental Empowerment, Involvement, and Satisfaction: A Comparison of Choosers of Charter, Catholic, Christian, and District-Run Public Schools

“…For schools, it may be beneficial for leaders to organize institutional structures to support parental voice (Epstein et al, 2011; Schueler, 2019). Parental voice may help strengthen district-run public schools by fostering positive perceptions of school climate and quality (Meier & Stewart, 1992; Shatkin & Gershberg, 2007).…”

Narrative Building in State Education Intervention: Framing the Takeover Attempt of Houston Independent School District

“…State takeover literature traditionally focuses on district performance (Burns, 2010) and the role of academic performance and social factors that contribute to them (Morel, 2018; Welsh, 2018). Contemporary research is starting to analyze the role of republican governors and the response to these takeovers by teachers, staff, and students (Schueler, 2019; Welsh & Williams, 2018; Welsh et al, 2019). Gubernatorial influence plays a large role in takeovers of schools and districts, especially in conservative states with Republican leadership (Welsh et al, 2019).…”

“…Takeovers that lend to a cooperative approach have a more successful record of accomplishment (Schueler, 2019). Despite the process to reach them, strategies that include alliances between local stakeholders and parents that are based in cooperation rather than power have more success according to Schueler (2019). Schueler’s (2019) study of Lawrence, MA, suggests that leadership and their approach matters to the perception of and success of state takeovers.…”

Why the Opportunity School District Failed? An Examination of Coalitions and the Politics of School Improvement

“…In this study, we examine coalition building and coordination of the coalition opposing a 2015 Georgia ballot initiative that engaged a popular education reform: state takeover. In fact, state takeover is a prominent school improvement policy in which coalitions play a pivotal role (Morel, 2018; Schueler, 2019; Welsh, 2019; Welsh et al, 2019b). The majority of states have legislative provisions authorizing the takeover of individual schools or districts from the jurisdiction of a locally elected school board, and states are increasingly implementing these takeover provisions to transfer struggling schools and entire districts to a state-level, general-purpose governing authority such as a governor, or state agency (Layton, 2016; Oluwole & Green, 2009; Smith, 2015).…”