School Turnaround Policies and Practices in Australia, Canada, England, and New Zealand: Overview and Implications

As U.S. education policymakers and practitioners continue their urgent efforts to significantly improve the nation’s lowest performing schools, this policy report looks outward, focusing on what can be learned from how four other countries are attempting to deal with the same challenge.

Following immediately on WestEd’s earlier federally funded evaluation of the nation’s Comprehensive School Reform Program, which showed little positive effect, WestEd—at the request of the U.S. Department of Education—commissioned case studies to find out what Australia, Canada, England, and New Zealand were doing to improve their own lowest performing schools.

Drawing from those studies, this report identifies common themes, distinctive characteristics, and the implications for such efforts in the United States. The report includes short summaries of each case study; the full case studies will be available in late spring 2011.

Discussed during the proceedings were WestEd commissioned case studies that described what Australia, Canada, England, and New Zealand were doing to improve their own low-performing schools.

Download the full case studies:

• Strategies to Challenge and Support School Performance in the United Kingdom
• Supporting Low-Performing Schools in Ontario, Canada
• Achieving an Education Revolution Through New Federalism in Australia
• Challenges Around Capability Improvements in a System of Self-Managed Schools in New Zealand