Six high-performing/high-poverty schools provide insights into what it takes to make a dramatic turnaround. School leaders had to make tough calls—and many of those decisions were about how to use resources. The budget in a high-performing, high-poverty school is a moral document, reflective of the school's beliefs about the conditions necessary to sustain success for all students and the adults who serve them. As budgets constrict, school leaders maintain their success by working collaboratively with staff to stay focused on the priorities that guide their work. Leaders in these schools begin by asking themselves questions that deal with three areas: (1) building the necessary leadership capacity; (2) focusing the staff's everyday core work on student, professional, and system learning; and (3) creating and fostering a safe, healthy, and supportive learning environment for all.

Tough Questions for Tough Times

Kathleen M. Budge

William H. Parrett

Poverty

School improvement and reform

Achievement gap

Diverse classrooms and schools

Principal effectiveness and evaluation

Between spring and fall of 2008, William Howard Taft Elementary School in Boise, Idaho, went from serving only one English language learner (ELL) to being designated an ELL site for the district and welcoming 58 new students from refugee families. Taft, a predominately low-income school, had with effort raised its students' low achievement scores over 10 years, and some teachers feared that the sudden influx of ELLs would roll back hard-earned gains. But Taft's principal and a small team of teachers took action in the spring and summer to prepare the school and welcome the new students. Teachers learned all they could about teaching ELLs and about the experiences of the refugees. Students researched the various countries that the soon-to-arrive students had left. Teacher teams visited the homes of incoming refugee students. Most important for the kids themselves was the two-week Tiger Pride Summer Camp the school quickly created. Incoming refugee students attended, each paired with a current Taft student.

Making Refugee Students Welcome

English language learners

William Parrett

Kathleen Budge

Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools, 2nd Edition (Print Book)

Soft Cover

Print Books

Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools, 2nd Edition

Disrupting Poverty: Five Powerful Classroom Practices (Print Book)

Disrupting Poverty: Five Powerful Classroom Practices

Leadership

Equity

Author

kathlenn_budge

Disrupting Poverty: Framework for Action

Disrupting Poverty: Framework for Action - thumbnail

Disrupting Poverty in the Elementary School Framework for Action (2016)

Disrupting Poverty: Three Interwoven Practices

Disrupting Poverty in the Secondary School: Three Interwoven Practices - thumbnail

Disrupting Poverty in the Secondary School Three Interwoven Practices (2017)

Engagement

Kathleen M. Budge

About

Expertise

Articles by Kathleen M.

Tough Questions for Tough Times

Making Refugee Students Welcome

Videos by Kathleen M.

Disrupting Poverty: Framework for Action

Books by Kathleen M.

Write for ASCD

To process a transaction with a Purchase Order please send to member@ascd.org