low-performing schools. tragically, sometimes not just for a few years but literally decades children have been cheated out of a world class education and for fa too long we, adults, educators, leaders, passively observed this educational failure with a complacency deeply disturbing. states and district officials have traditionally tinkered in the schools instead of treating them as the educational emergencies they are. from the moment i became the ceo of the chicago public schools in 2001, i had so many people tell me not much could be done to transform a failing school. i was told that nothing could be done to transform failing schools at scale. skeptics on the left of the political spectrum said the barriers of poverty and race and the attachment of parents to the neighborhood schools were just too tough to overcome. those on the right of the political spectrum said that teachers and unions and district administrators would never buy into dramatic and fundamental change. a
dropout nationwide, especially since 2008. all tolled, nearly 400,000 fewer students attended high school dropout factories in 2010 than just two years earlier. what are the secrets to success? in the sig program, schools that boost achieve meant share two common elements. first they have a new dynamic lead who are is deeply committed to the students and surrounding community. i m talking about extraordinary principals like roy sandoval who works at a high school on an indian reservation. every morning he gets up really terl and drives two and a half hours to his school. the second thing that turn around schools have in common is they have teachers and adult who is share relentless focus on improving instruction both through collaboration and through the use of data. all four of the modilies give professionals in the school the resources they need to be ambitious teachers. they increased learning time, will youing more improved teacher valuation system. but the road to succes