Leadership in an Urban Charter Turnaround School: Lessons from New Orleans
Open AccessOne of the most significant and policy-driven issues facing public education in the United States is how to improve failing schools. School turnaround, an intervention outlined in federal educational policy to improve these schools, is rooted in a significant body of research acknowledging the school leader's integral role. Turnaround is characterized by removing and replacing the existing school leader and approximately half of the school's staff (U.S. Department of Education [DOE], 2009).Leadership in turnaround schools is relatively under-researched. However, emerging research suggests that successful turnaround leaders appear to employ common approaches and behaviors (Grissom & Loeb, 2011; Hitt & Tucker, 2016; Lochmiller & Chesnut, 2017; Urick & Bowers, 2014). To better understand turnaround school leaders, particularly their understandings of their roles and subsequent actions, this dissertation examined four New Orleans leaders who led their charter schools out of low-performing or failing status, as defined by Louisiana's annual school report card ratings. This basic interpretive study relied on semi-structured interviews of the primary school leader overseeing the school's turnaround. Given the unique context of charter schooling post-Katrina and the student population attending New Orleans charter schools, Shields' (2010; 2018; 2020) transformative leadership theory served as the study's theoretical framework. Participants' responses yielded two themes. Leaders described focusing on what they could directly control within their school community, instead of affecting larger systems. Participants also discussed their actions to create school communities where people felt connected by including others, thus providing safety, and infusing joy.
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