Rapid Response: School Restructuring

This resource was developed in response to a request from a state departments of education in the Southeast Comprehensive Center’s region that had started the process of working on a takeover plan and wanted to compile research from other states in the area of school and district takeover. The requestor was interested in the development of a white paper on this process thus far in other states, to provide possible direction for its state.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) provides districts with several options for improving schools and districts that fail to improve student achievement sufficiently in reading and mathematics. However, the only option for those that fail to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) for 5 consecutive years is to engage in school or district restructuring. The NCLB restructuring consists of five options:

• Chartering
• Staff replacement
• Contracting
• State takeovers
• Other

Districts that are experiencing satisfactory performance but want to be proactive also may benefit from some of the strategies used in restructuring. In this response, the Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) provides several published reports and Web sites that may be of use in addressing the restructuring/turnaround issue for districts at various stages of AYP.