Turnaround Specialist
September 2005

(Charles Pyle, Virginia Department of Education)

The success of an elementary school in Danville illustrates the importance of leadership in raising student achievement and the potential of a program initiated by Governor Mark Warner to apply business principles to the principal’s office. Glenwood Magnet Elementary School is one of the first Virginia schools to benefit from the leadership of a turnaround specialist – a principal specially trained to put a struggling school on the path to higher achievement.

(Charles Pyle continues narration as video of the first day of school is seen.)

The first day of school marks a new beginning for Glenwood Magnet Elementary School.

This is Delores Crews’ second year as principal at Glenwood. The building hasn’t changed much since last year. And many of the students and parents here for the first day are familiar. But a lot has changed since Crews arrived as one of Virginia’s first school turnaround specialists.

(Delores Crews leads students in song.)

We will, we will do our best…do our best!

(Narration continues)

Before Crews arrived; Glenwood struggled to meet the expectations of Virginia’s Standards of Learning and the federal No Child Left Behind Act, making the school an ideal test for Governor Mark Warner’s Turnaround Specialist program. An environmental science magnet program draws a smattering of students from across Danville, but most of the students are from nearby neighborhoods. Eighty percent of the school’s 216 students qualify for free and reduced priced meals.

(Ms. Crews speaks with interviewer.)

In the history of our school it had always been looked at as the “stepchild school,” the one that no one wanted to come to.

(Narration continues)

The faculty had enjoyed occasional successes. But gains at Glenwood were short lived. SOL scores would go up only to plummet the following year and the school had never earned full state accreditation.

(Ms. Crews)

They were working hard but not reaping the benefits, so we decided we needed to work smarter, nor harder. And our instructional time wasn’t being utilized correctly. That was another factor that caused us to have the inconsistency.

(Child in classroom)

You put the zero with the one and the five with the ten.

(Teacher)

Good, and what number do I have?

(Children)

Fifty!

(Ms. Crews)

We did not originally have the 90-minute reading, and the 60-minute math, and the 50-minute science and social studies times. There was no common planning time in terms of teachers being able to plan together and work together for the efforts of children. That was one of the things that we changed.

(Narration continues)

Crews made sure that everyone at Glenwood understood that “turning around” the troubled school would be a team effort.

(Teacher to class)

What did Ms. Crews say this morning? It is cool to be in school. Yes. And while we are here we are going to do our…

(Children)

Best!

(Ms. Crews)

I wrote letters to my bus drivers saying you are the first to greet my students. You set the tone for the day. So, all the way to the cafeteria, how they come through the line, is all a part of how our kids’ day will go and how they will learn.

(Narration continues)

The results of the spring 2005 SOL tests exceeded Crews’ expectations. Overall achievement rose significantly in all subject areas, with especially striking improvements in the performance of third-grade students in reading and mathematics. Crews credits Glenwood’s success to teachers, parents, the central office, and the community. She says the leadership and management skills she acquired as a participant in the Governor’s Turnaround Specialist Program enabled her to harness and direct this support and “turn around” what had been a struggling school.

(Instructor at Turnaround Specialist Program)

One thing you need to know about great managing, great leading, or sustaining individual success: discover what you don’t like doing and stop doing it.

(Narration continues)

Now, a second cohort of turnaround-specialists-in-training is benefiting from the experience of pioneers like Crews. The concept behind the program is simple. Leadership is essential to raising student achievement and the qualities and techniques that enable leaders to “turnaround” troubled businesses can also be applied to public schools. The specialists-in-training are united in their belief that they can make a difference.

(Bruce A. Cook/Turnaround Specialist)

I like the idea of going into a place and seeing what needs to be done and working with the people there and seeing what we can do with it, seeing if we can make it successful. The kids anywhere deserve success.

(Tierney Fairchild/Turnaround Specialist Program)

But it is not just about that turnaround principal. That turnaround principal is not what someone will say is a gunslinger. They are not in there by themselves. It is their ability to garner the respect as a leader. It is also about them and their school district. Their division comes in and supports them as a team, their superintendent is there with them and they are learning together about what are those best and critical strategies to make the improvements necessary for kids.

(Sue Davis/Superintendent, Danville Public Schools)

What we decided very early was that Delores would map out the support that she needed and we would provide it.

(Andrew Tyrrell/Asst. Superintendent)

Kind of equates to a CEO coming in and looking at the bottom line dollar figure. We’re looking at how can we hit the benchmarks with testing, and we know if we hit those benchmarks, we are also ultimately improving the education of each child that comes through this school.

(Charles Pyle)

Seven of the ten Virginia schools led by turnaround specialists last year, including Glenwood Elementary, met federal objectives for learning and achievement under No Child Left Behind.