About three in four are high-poverty schools, where the majority of students qualify for federal free lunches. They also are likely to be staffed by younger, less qualified teachers and to suffer from rapid turnover in leadership. Our research indicates that there is a close association between low-performing schools and uncredentialed and junior teachers. Acknowledging that link, states are making an effort to deal with such problems. Those schools also receive professional assistance from the state and their local districts.
Every school is different, and every plan is different, but the support is there.
These schools aren't out there groping in the dark. But Brogan adds that the state's accountability plan falls short of taking schools over. We should do it today. That sentiment is shared by many state leaders elsewhere. After either experiencing for themselves or witnessing from afar unsuccessful state attempts to run entire districts of low-performing schools, lawmakers and policymakers have conceded that there are resource shortcomings in state education agencies, too.