Report: Tennessee's Achievement School District is failing students, unlikely to succeed

Six years since it began taking over low-performing schools, new research shows Tennessee's Achievement School District is failing.

Despite numerous changes in leadership, practices and support, the Tennessee Education Research Alliance found the ASD hasn't "produced significant gains in student achievement in any academic subject, intervention year, or cohort of schools."

It is unlikely to succeed without big changes, said Gary Henry, a Vanderbilt University professor and researcher on the report released Tuesday.

"The ASD as it is currently being operated, it is clear that it is not effective," Henry said.

The research isn't a surprise for those following the state district over the years. In 2015, researchers first cast doubt over the state's efforts, showing districts were making strides where the Tennessee Department of Education's takeover district wasn't — although in recent years local district efforts have shown signs of regression.

Henry said there should be a continued role for state takeover because a threat of a state takeover has forced districts to address the schools performing in the bottom 5% in the state in terms of academics.

But the model where the state gives charter management organizations the autonomy to takeover and turnaround the state's lowest-performing schools is not the way, he said. 

"I don’t see any promise that it will become effective," Henry said. "We owe it to parents and students to restructure the model."

Study confirms need to rethink ASD, education commissioner says

It looks clear the state will heed the research this time. The ASD as it is structured is likely to change, although probably not disappear altogether.

“This study confirms the need to rethink the approach of the Achievement School District," Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn said in a statement. "Our team is committed to the ASD as the state’s most rigorous intervention and will be working to ensure its success with a real sense of urgency and an understanding that the next phase must be thoughtful and informed."

It's unclear what changes will look like under Schwinn, as she said the state is exploring all avenues in how to ensure students have access to an excellent education.

"Any future direction must also reflect a commitment to partnering with the districts and schools that dedicate themselves to this demanding work," Schwinn said.

The ASD's woes

The research shows there hasn't been marked improvements to student achievement in any of the six years in which the ASD has operated. Any effects, the research says, are statistically insignificant.

The one positive the research notes is that school districts might "not have been as motivated to make such gains without the pressure of takeover from the ASD." 

The state launched the ASD in the 2012-13 school year and it has remained a controversial initiative ever since.

The ASD faced significant backlash for the way it took over schools when it first started, wresting control from local districts and handing them over to charter management operators.  Research over the years showed the model alienated the communities it sought to serve.

It has also been rocked by instability in leadership as multiple chiefs for the district have tried to make changes to address the district's shortcomings. The district is in the hunt for its fourth leader after Sharon Griffin departed to join Metro Nashville Public Schools.

The ASD started with the intent to bring the bottom 5% of schools into the top 25%. 

And Henry said the original model was meant to support the charter schools and weed out the low performers. The ASD has faced challenges in how to keep those operators accountable and learn from past mistakes, he said.

Schools have also seen high turnover that has furthered instability for kids and stunted learning, he said.

Critics and supporters speak out

Nashville school board member Will Pinkston said former Gov. Bill Haslam should have stuck to the original vision for the ASD outlined by his predecessor —  a baker’s dozen of schools statewide experimenting with a range of innovations. Nashville has two of the state's 29 ASD schools and Pinkston was part of the conversations in 2009-10 to create the ASD.

"Instead, (the Haslam administration) got caught up in irrational reform exuberance, fueled by more than $500 million in federal money they inherited, and they created a monster that eventually fell flat on its face," Pinkston said. "The ASD needs to fold up its tent and return Brick Church and Neely’s Bend middle schools to MNPS before it does any additional damage to those schools and the surrounding neighborhoods.”

The Tennessee Charter School Center, which supports charter schools around the state and in the ASD, spokeswoman Hilary Trahan said the job of the ASD is vital.

She said about half of the ASD charter schools are showing recent improvements, including in reading and math. Nashville's two ASD schools showed academic growth among its students in the 2017-18 school year. 

"Despite the importance of the mission of the ASD, it is our understanding that many schools in the ASD are under-resourced," she said in the statement. "We need to ensure that the ASD, its schools, operators, and the families of ASD-run schools have access to the resources they need to succeed in bringing the schools out of the bottom 5%. " 

District turnaround efforts

The research alliance's newest report shows district efforts to address low-performing schools are still more effective than the Achievement School District. 

The research looked at district interventions in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville.

Over the last six years, district interventions have shown positive effects in math and science. Reading score improvements aren't pronounced.

Most of the positive effects were driven in the first couple years of the district intervention, with efforts wavering in the fourth and fifth years due in large part to teacher and principal turnover, Henry said.

The teacher and principal attrition, Henry said, is most likely due to educators moving from the more challenging work in turnaround schools to high-performing schools.

"It is almost like gravitational flow," Henry said. "The work is more challenging in the low-performing school environments and there are sometimes long hours. Some get burned out with the intensity."

"It is hard to recruit people in and hard to keep them there."

Models with promise

Some states are seeing results, Henry said. For instance, Massachusetts has seen varied success in the way it turns around schools.

The state takes over districts and doesn't outsource management, Henry said. The appointed leadership seeks to get the district as a whole on a sound operating basis, he said, and it has shown success in at least one district.

Tennessee also has a model that is promising, he said.

He said there is also Chattanooga's Partnership Network, a state and local collaborative to improve low-performing schools. He said the data isn't in the research released on Tuesday, but that "there is a lot to like about the model."

Want to read more stories like this? A subscription to one of our Tennessee publications gets you unlimited access to all the latest news and the ability to tap into stories, photos and videos from throughout the USA TODAY Network's 109 local sites.

Reach Jason Gonzales at jagonzales@tennessean.com and on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.