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Relegation and Reversion: Longitudinal Analysis of School Turnaround and Decline

2012; Routledge; Volume: 17; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10824669.2012.636728

1532-7671

Craig Hochbein,

Auditing, Earnings Management, Governance

School turnaround has become a popular strategy for improvement of chronically low-performing schools. Research related to school turnaround has relied substantially upon case studies. These case studies often focus on successful turnarounds and report immediate outcomes, failing to provide information about the sustainability of the results. In addition, schools with equally dramatic declining academic performance garner little attention from educators, policy makers, and researchers. This study addresses this gap in school effectiveness and school improvement literature by examining the longitudinal performance of schools after experiencing a dramatic improvement or decline. Results of the study indicated that 3 years after a school experienced turnaround, on average, academic performance declined from peak performance, but did not revert to prior low levels of performance. Similarly, academic performance of downfall schools, on average, did not relegate schools to a status of chronic low performance, yet achievement levels did not rebound to prior levels.