Can States Take Over and Turn Around School Districts? Evidence From Lawrence, Massachusetts

Abstract

The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peerreviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

The Physical Activity Environment and Academic Achievement in Massachusetts Schoolchildren

“…The overall PAE and adoption of supportive policies varied between LIS and MIS, with 13% more students from MIS in high‐PAE schools. This may highlight inherent disparities in terms of the capacity for low‐income schools to implement these policies/programs for reasons including budgetary constraints and competing demands for academic enrichment . The need for schools to prioritize resources dedicated to PA persists, despite the growing body of literature suggesting that schooltime PA is not detrimental and may even benefit academic performance …”

School District Reform in Newark: Within- and Between-School Changes in Achievement Growth

“…Our paper adds to a growing literature on school and district turnarounds (e.g., Abdulkadiroglu, Angrist, Hull & Pathak, 2016;Dee, 2012;Fryer, 2014;Gill, Zimmer, Christman & Blanc, 2007;Harris and Larsen, 2016;Heissel & Ladd, 2016;Papay & Hannon, 2015;Schueler, Goodman & Deming, 2017;Strunk, Marsh, Hashim, Bush & Weinstein, 2016;Young et al, 2009;Zimmer, Kho, Henry & Viano, 2015). As other research has begun to show, turnaround efforts can produce both positive and negative externalities for student achievement growth.…”

Incentivizing improvement or imposition? An examination of the response to gubernatorial school takeover and statewide turnaround districts

“…Even though there is a growing literature on state turnaround districts, especially how the changes in educational governance may influence the politics of education and student outcomes (Bulkley & Henig, 2015;DeBray, Scott, Lubienski, & Jabbar, 2014;Reckhow, Henig, Jacobsen, & Alter, 2016;Schueler, Goodman, & Deming, 2017;Welsh, 2018;Welsh & Hall, 2018), less attention has been paid to how state takeovers may affect district and school leaders. Although the phenomenon of school and district takeover has been present since the early 1990s, there is a general lack of systematic study on the changing relationship between state, district, and school officials (Wong & Shen, 2003).…”