What's Trust Got to Do With It: A Communications and Engagement Guide for School Leaders Tackling the Problem of Persistently Failing Schools - Public Agenda presents a blueprint for education leaders on how to engage communities in transforming persistently failing schools so that they create the conditions under which teachers and students can succeed. The report includes best outreach practices culled from education, communications and engagement experts that hold varying perspectives on how to approach school reform. (Public Agenda, December 2011)...

Are Bad Schools Immortal? The Scarcity of Turnarounds and Shutdowns in Both Charter and District Sectors - This study finds that low-performing public schools are re stubbornly resistant to significant change. The author identified over 2,000 low-performing charter and district schools across 10 states, from 2003-04 through 2008-09 to determine how many were turned around, shut down, or remained low-performing. Results were generally dismal. Seventy-two percent of the original low-performing charters remained in operation—and remained low-performing—five years later. So did 80% of district schools. (David Stuit, Thomas B. Fordham Institute, December 2010)...

When Schools Close: Effects on Displaced Students in Chicago Public Schools - Since 2001, the Chicago Public Schools have closed 44 schools for reasons of poor academic performance or underutilization. Very little is known about how displaced students fare after their schools are closed. This report examines the impact that closing schools had on the students who attended these schools. (Consortium on Chicago School Research, October 2009)...