Boosting
ACHIEVEMENT
by Pursuing
DIVERSITY
What can we learn from
schools that are improving
student achievement by
breaking up concentrated
student poverty?
Halley Potter
PHO TOS B Y SAHBA ROHANI AND JAMES RO Y, COUR TES Y OF COMMUNI T Y ROO TS CHAR TER SCHOOL AND EL HA YNES PUBLIC CHAR TER SCHOOL
One morning last December, a crowd gathered at the Thomas;B. Fordham Institute in Washington, D.C., for a discussion on
school turnaround. Panelists debated
whether the best way to fix persistently
underperforming schools was simply to
replace the administrators and teachers at
the school, or whether reopening under
new charter management was the only
effective option.
But what if, instead of changing the
principal, teachers, or management in
the hope that this will turn around a
