The Turnaround Mindset: Aligning Leadership for Student Success

This book provides a valuable balance between what one must know and what one must do to turn around low-performing schools. The 3-E framework simplifies this complex process by focusing resources on the environment, the executive, and the execution of the turnaround plan. Central to each of these components is a spotlight on the values supporting change and an examination of the unique perspectives and actions required at the school, district and state levels in renewing chronically underperforming schools.

A set of case studies on individuals who have led successful turnarounds of schools gives life to the theoretical concepts. These cases focus on the principal as turnaround specialist, offering leadership profiles from their varied perspectives and demonstrate the resilience of these leaders across settings and challenges. The book concludes with a discussion of how the developing field of school turnarounds affects educational policy in the K-12 and higher education arenas.

Tierney Temple Fairchild is the former executive director of the Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education and served as the lead consultant for EduLead, the developer of the blueprint for the Louisiana School Turnaround Specialist program, which began implementation in 2010.

Jo Lynne DeMary is the former state superintendent of public instruction for Virginia under Governor Jim Gilmore and Governor Mark Warner. She was the first female to serve in that position.