The Four R's and Organizational Framework for School Turnaround

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The Four R’s and Organizational Framework for School Turnaround

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 defines Chronically Low Performing Schools (CLPS) as those with a high proportion of students, 20% or more, failing to meet levels of proficiency in reading or mathematics for more than two consecutive years. The question becomes why? Why are students not proficient in reading and math as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act? The answer to the question is complex, but it leads to my definition of a CLPS. A chronically low performing school is a school that lacks and has lacked for three or more consecutive years relevance, relationships, rigor and repercussions; the four R’s. A mixed method of data will be triangulated to gauge whether or not a school is deemed chronically low performing. For quantitative data, the proficiency level of reading and math will be the metric used to measure performance. Interviews, observations and field notes will be used to measure the four R’s.

In their book, Reframing Organizations, Bolman and Deal points out that one of the most common afflictions of leaders is to see an incomplete or distorted picture as a result of overlooking or misinterpreting important signals (p.4). Therefore, you need a mental model; Bolman and Deal call a frame. A frame is a set of ideas and assumptions that you carry in your head to help you understand and negotiate a particular “territory” (Bolman and Deal, 2008). The four major frames are structural, human resource, political, and symbolic (p. 14). The four R’s are equivalent to Bolman & Deal’s four major frames. The first frame is structural and structural is parallel to relevance. Relevance is our purpose, our vision; the ...

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