Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: State Takeovers in K-12 Education: Design, Governance, and Political Sustainability

(Education)

State takeovers of schools and districts are increasingly common approaches to improving chronically low-performing schools. The Education Commission of the States (2016) estimates that eleven states passed or debated legislation to create state-run districts within the past year alone. Examining the previous high watermark for state takeovers of districts from 1992 to 2000, Wong and Shen (2002, 2003) found that states interventions typically improve district financial management but have produced mixed results on students’ academic achievement. Since Wong and Shen’s analysis, the policy context that drives state interventions has changed dramatically. The No Child Left Behind Act required states to put in place standards-based accountability systems and to intervene when schools failed to make sufficient progress towards improved academic outcomes for all students. State policymakers have also pursued new forms of intervention that place low-performing schools into state-run districts, like Louisiana’s Recovery School District and Tennessee’s Achievement School District, a marked departure from previous interventions that focused on comprehensive district reform. The new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is likely to accelerate these trends. ESSA carves out an expanded role for states in addressing low-performing schools, providing states with new flexibility in crafting interventions and designing state accountability systems. As a result, the need to examine state takeovers – their success, failure, and limitations -- has never been greater. This panel will examine how states design, govern, and manage the political dynamics of state takeovers. The first paper examines Tennessee’s state-run Achievement School District, which brings low-performing schools from across the state into a single district, divorcing geography from district governance. The authors examine Tennessee’s efforts to start-up and manage its turnaround portfolio and to navigate intergovernmental relationships and political challenges. The second paper explores the political dynamics of Massachusetts’ takeover of the chronically underperforming Lawrence Public Schools and outlines factors that help explain why the Lawrence takeover and turnaround has been met with relatively minimal resistance. The third paper looks across multiple states, examining different modes of state intervention in local districts, the factors that shape their success, and the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to state-led district turnaround. The final paper draws comparisons between three state-managed districts in Detroit, New Orleans, and Tennessee, and describes how the political dynamics in each context have shaped the resulting district design and potential sustainability of reform. Through single and cross-case studies of state takeovers from across the country, this panel will draw lessons regarding promising approaches to state involvement in school and district improvement and identify important unresolved questions for future research on the design, governance, and political sustainability of state interventions.