I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5467 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to award contracts to nonprofit 
organizations with national experience that enter into partnerships with 
local educational agencies to turn around low-performing public high 
schools. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 28, 2010 
Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to award contracts 
to nonprofit organizations with national experience that 
enter into partnerships with local educational agencies 
to turn around low-performing public high schools. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Turning Around Low- 
Performing Public High Schools Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) Only 70 percent of United States students 
graduate on time with a regular diploma and about 
1,200,000 students drop out regularly. Almost 50 
percent of public high school students in the 50 larg-
est cities of the United States fail to graduate. 
(2) Only 50 percent of all Black students and 
53 percent of Hispanic students graduate from high 
school. Males fare even worse, with only 43 percent 
of Black male students and 48 percent of Hispanic 
male students graduating. 
(3) High school dropouts are more likely to live 
in poverty, join gangs, and use drugs. They are more 
than 8 times as likely to be in jail as a person with 
a diploma. This results in a lifetime cost for a drop-
out who moves to a life of crime and drugs of 
$1,700,000 to $2,300,000. 
(4) High school turnaround requires a system-
atic and comprehensive approach that addresses 
changes in instructional improvement and structural 
changes in the school organization. 
(5) Effective turnaround organizations that 
partner with low-performing local educational agen-
cies and schools can build the capacity of the agen-
cies and schools to reform services and systems. 
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(6) Turnaround partner organizations with ex-
perience and expertise at the high school level that 
have the capacity and flexibility to work nationally 
are in short supply. 
(7) Although the funds made available under 
section 14006 of division A of the American Recov-
ery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 are designed to 
help States reform low-performing schools, not all 
States will qualify to receive the funds, even though 
they contain low-performing high schools. 
(8) Not all failing high schools are eligible to 
receive school improvement grants under section 
1003 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965. 
(9) The challenge of high school turnaround ex-
ceeds the capacity of many local educational agen-
cies, requiring the expertise of external partnership 
organizations. 
(10) Alternative turnaround strategies that do 
not involve charter schools or were not addressed in 
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 
2009 turnaround model are needed to be able reach 
all low-performing public high schools. 
SEC. 3. HIGH SCHOOL TURNAROUND. 
(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 
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(1) to turn around low-performing high schools 
and increase graduation rates and college readiness 
for poor and minority graduating high school stu-
dents; 
(2) to improve teacher and principal quality in 
high schools that serve students at risk of dropping 
out of school; 
(3) to provide support and assistance to organi-
zations that serve as high school turnaround part-
ners for schools and local educational agencies that 
may not be eligible to receive funds made available 
under section 14006 of division A of the American 
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in order to 
improve secondary school graduation, postsecondary 
program attendance, and postsecondary completion 
rates for low-income students; and 
(4) to promote the establishment of new pro-
grams to implement high school turnaround that do 
not involve charter schools or were not addressed in 
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 
2009 turnaround model. 
(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) COMPREHENSIVE
HIGH
SCHOOL
TURN-
AROUND
MODEL.—The term ‘‘comprehensive high 
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school turnaround model’’ means a research-based 
high school turnaround model that— 
(A) defines and guides school turnaround, 
enabling schools to develop strategies for school 
design that are customized to meet the unique 
needs of schools and local educational agencies; 
and 
(B) includes the following: 
(i) Establishment of a 5-year partner-
ship between a school district partnership 
turnaround organization and a local edu-
cational agency that begins with a plan-
ning period during which the school dis-
trict turnaround partnership organization 
works with the local educational agency 
and school staff to assist them to articu-
late a school vision, identify staff, recruit 
students, and implement parent outreach. 
(ii) A college preparatory instructional 
program that encourages students to view 
themselves as future college students, and 
prepares students for admission to, and 
success in, college. 
(iii) A student support structure that 
personalizes the educational experience, 
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providing students with a caring, safe, and 
supportive learning environment. 
(iv) A staffing structure that— 
(I) personalizes the school envi-
ronment; 
(II) creates strong, long-term 
connections between students and 
their teachers and counselors; 
(III) ensures that the support 
network is engaged and knowledge-
able; 
(IV) generates strong relation-
ships that enable teachers to elicit 
higher levels of student performance; 
and 
(V) can include maintaining the 
same set of core subject teachers and 
guidance counselors throughout the 
four years of high school. 
(v) Standards of professional practice 
to build capacity as a professional commu-
nity and develop a sense of collective re-
sponsibility for student and school out-
comes. 
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(vi) An extended day and extended 
school year to enable staff to provide stu-
dents with structured time, individual at-
tention, and other supports necessary for 
their success with the school’s challenging, 
college-preparatory curriculum. 
(vii) An expectation that parents will 
take an active role in school activities to 
share their knowledge of their child with 
teachers and counselors and to give staff 
feedback on their children’s experience and 
progress. 
(viii) Use of multiple mechanisms to 
assess a school’s organizational and pro-
gram effectiveness. 
(2) LOW-INCOME STUDENT.—The term ‘‘low-in-
come student’’ means a student who is determined 
by a local educational agency to be from a low-in-
come family using the measures described in section 
1113(a)(5) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6313(a)(5)). 
(3) SCHOOL
DISTRICT
PARTNERSHIP
TURN-
AROUND ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘school district 
partnership turnaround organization’’ means a non-
profit education organization that— 
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(A) has as its primary purpose the im-
provement of secondary school graduation and 
postsecondary attendance and completion rates 
for low-income students; 
(B) has a comprehensive high school turn-
around model that can be successful in mul-
tiple, varied schools and States; and 
(C) has a proven success rate and the abil-
ity to implement high school turnaround activi-
ties on a large scale. 
(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Education. 
(c) CONTRACTS AUTHORIZED.—From the amount 
appropriated to carry out this section, the Secretary is au-
thorized to award 5-year contracts to school district part-
nership turnaround organizations that employ comprehen-
sive high school turnaround models. Such a contract shall 
be used to carry out the requirements of subsection (d) 
and to implement and sustain integrated and sustained 
education reform services through subcontractor activities 
described in subsection (e) at low-performing high schools. 
(d) REQUIREMENTS OF CONTRACTS.—A contract re-
ferred to in subsection (c) shall require a school district 
partnership turnaround organization to accomplish the 
following: 
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(1) Partner with local educational agencies 
that— 
(A) serve a substantial number or percent-
age of low-income students; and 
(B) have made a commitment to imple-
ment a comprehensive high school turnaround 
model. 
(2) Provide a program based on a comprehen-
sive high school turnaround model that reflects the 
needs of the local educational agencies. 
(3) Improve teacher quality and develop the ca-
pacity of the local educational agencies to continue 
to implement the comprehensive high school turn-
around model after the turnaround partnership has 
been completed. 
(4) Develop activities for the purpose of imple-
menting new turnaround sites. 
(5) Implement activities for the purpose of pro-
moting greater public awareness of the relationship 
between personalized and academically rigorous high 
schools and improved attendance, graduation, and 
college-going rates for low-income students. 
(e) ACTIVITIES AT EACH SITE.—At each turnaround 
site, the school district partnership turnaround organiza-
tion shall carry out the following activities: 
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(1) Partner with the school community to de-
sign and implement a customized plan of how the 
comprehensive high school turnaround model is to be 
implemented so as to produce an increase in the 
number of students who graduate college-ready. 
(2) Train school personnel in establishing and 
implementing student support structures which will 
result in greater student engagement and school af-
filiation and promote school safety. 
(3) Provide student performance data and im-
plementation reports for the purpose of assessing 
the status of the comprehensive high school turn-
around model implementation and school improve-
ment. 
(4) Provide offsite professional development op-
portunities, school-based, job-embedded professional 
development, and opportunities for networking with 
staff from other turnaround schools and local edu-
cational agencies. 
(5) Work with local educational agency and 
school administrators, teachers, and counselors to 
provide guidance regarding turnaround strategies as 
well as specific content area development. 
(6) Provide customized professional develop-
ment activities and technical assistance and onsite 
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coaching to address local needs and interests with 
the goal of improving teacher quality. 
(7) Provide assistance in designing and imple-
menting parent engagement activities. 
(8) Provide assistance with staff and student 
recruitment. 
(f) ACTIVITIES OF ASSISTED SCHOOLS.—Each school 
assisted under this Act shall carry out the following: 
(1) Assign an administrator as liaison to the 
school district partnership turnaround organization 
who will be responsible for ensuring that the re-
quired local educational agency policies, schedules, 
space, staffing, resources, and other supports are in 
place to facilitate the implementation of the com-
prehensive high school turnaround model. 
(2) Construct a schedule that includes common 
planning time for school staff and regular meetings 
of the administration so that all students realize the 
maximum benefit from the personalization aspects of 
the program. 
(3) Assign sufficient teaching staff in the core 
discipline areas as well as for non-core areas. 
(4) Ensure that teachers have expertise in the 
areas they teach, demonstrate commitment to the 
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comprehensive high school turnaround model, and 
meet local certification requirements. 
(5) Assign at least one full-time counselor. 
(6) Design a student support program in col-
laboration with the school district partnership turn-
around organization. 
(7) Schedule and implement parent orientation 
and engagement activities. 
(8) Ensure that staff and administration com-
mit to attending offsite professional development ac-
tivities. 
(9) Participate in data collection activities con-
ducted by the school district partnership turnaround 
organization. 
(g) LIMITATION
ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Of 
the funds made available to carry out a contract under 
this section, a school district partnership turnaround orga-
nization shall not use more than 8 percent to pay for ad-
ministration of the contract. 
(h) EVALUATION.— 
(1) EVALUATION
BY
SECRETARY.—The Sec-
retary shall select an independent entity to evaluate, 
every 3 years, the performance of students who at-
tend a turnaround school. The evaluation— 
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(A) shall be conducted using a rigorous re-
search design for determining the effectiveness 
of the comprehensive high school turnaround 
model; and 
(B) shall compare course achievement, sec-
ondary school graduation rates, and post-sec-
ondary attendance and completion rates of stu-
dents who attend schools assisted under this 
section with those indicators for students of 
similar backgrounds who do not attend such 
schools. 
(2) EVALUATION BY ORGANIZATION.—A school 
district partnership turnaround organization— 
(A) shall require each partner school to 
provide the turnaround organization access to 
data on student demographics, student attend-
ance, course grades, suspensions, student safety 
incidents, graduation rates, relevant test scores, 
teacher retention, and other such agreed upon 
information needed to prepare implementation 
reports; and 
(B) shall prepare an annual report describ-
ing the implementation of the comprehensive 
high school turnaround model and student 
achievement in partner schools. 
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(3) AVAILABILITY OF EVALUATION.—Copies of 
any evaluation or report prepared under this sub-
section shall be made available to the Secretary and 
the Congress. 
(i) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2011 and 
each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years. 
Æ 
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