Introduction
A Call to Action

Today, increasingly loud voices, many belonging to parents and policymakers, are demanding more from our nation's public schools and expecting more from our public school students. In response, public education is focusing on helping all children reach high standards of learning.

Despite this renewed focus, some schools face serious and systemic challenges that undermine the teaching and learning process, and students are failing to meet even minimum standards of achievement.

Making Low-Performing Schools a Priority: An Association Resource Guide helps NEA state and local leaders rise to the challenge posed by low-achieving schools. This handbook offers concrete, practical steps for identifying a school in crisis, implementing positive changes to turn the school around, and sustaining ongoing improvement to create a high-quality school environment.

To their credit, many schools are making access to a high-quality public education a universal right by focusing their attention and resources on improving professional development for teachers and school staff, introducing more challenging curriculum for students, and holding students accountable for academic performance.

But these successes cannot erase the gap between poor school districts and affluent ones that is proving difficult to close. Thousands of children still attend rundown, overcrowded schools. Too many are taught by teachers who have only "emergency" teaching certificates. And many school systems with large concentrations of minority students are not getting their fair share of education funding.

Many of these schools have been labeled "failures" for their inability to provide the basic level of education that any of us would desire for our child. But a closer look reveals a number of common traits that struggling schools share:

• Many low-achieving schools are located in rural or distressed communities that have been ravaged by poverty and neglect, making it difficult for children to come to school ready to learn.

• Consistently low student achievement creates a devastating cycle where teachers lower their expectations of students, and students fail to master necessary skills. The result is higher rates of teacher burnout, more student absences, and soaring dropout rates.

The school climate presents significant challenges to states and school districts facing the need to raise achievement in underperforming schools. As a result, many are using rewards and sanctions to turn these schools around. But some so-called "solutions" can actually make things worse, not better, for school districts whose students are struggling to achieve.

Policies vary, but most states and school districts target schools based on poor student performance on large-scale assessment tests. The schools generally serve predominantly minority, low-income, and rural student populations. School conditions include crowded classrooms, outmoded facilities, and scarce supplies. The problems in these schools must be creatively overcome to ensure that all students have a secure route to educational opportunity.

Making Low-Performing Schools a Priority: An Association Resource Guide is designed to assist NEA members in their work. Sections include:

• Preparing for School Improvement  This section provides tools needed to start the dialogue for school improvement and identifies various indicators that might signal whether or not a school is in need of assistance.

• Being Responsive  This section provides the tools needed to better understand and respond to the school environment through internal and external analysis and to implement a comprehensive school improvement plan.

• Getting the Job Done  This section provides the tools needed to create successful strategies for priority schools and to collaborate with all stakeholders to reform priority schools. It also offers lessons and considerations to keep in mind.

• Moving Beyond  This section provides the tools needed to build a school's capacity for long-term change.

• Finding Resources  This section provides various resources that are available to members working on school improvement plans.

Begin your journey toward ensuring all schools are quality schools -- and all school staffs receive the support they need to reach high levels of performance.