NSU Developing Turnaround Specialist Certification Program

The Louisiana School Turnaround Specialist Program is a leadership development program based on a corporate model. It is designed to strengthen the leadership skills of principals to lead low-performing schools to higher student achievement.

Eight universities in Louisiana are participating in the program and will provide resources to participants in their service areas. The two-year program focuses on training principals to lead through communication, goal setting, analyzing data and dealing with personnel with the goal of turning failing schools around. Participants will earn 18 hours of graduate credit and, if their schools meet performance criteria, will be endorsed by the state as a designated Turnaround Specialist.

The program is based on Louisiana’s pilot participation in the University of Virginia’s Virginia Turnaround Specialist program.

“This program is an executive leadership program. It’s focused on team building and it can work,” said Sheila Guidry, project administrator of the Louisiana Department of Education. “It requires thinking about things in a different way. The principal in the school will be working with NSU who will provide resources to service schools in a customized way.”

NSU’s role, as well as those of the other seven universities serving as regional providers, will be to develop and implement the curriculum and coursework, tailoring the program to the needs of the participant.

“As a partner in the program, we will offer night, weekend or hybrid classes to accommodate the participants’ schedules to minimize the time an administrator is away from the school,” said Dr. Wendell Wellman, NSU’s team leader in developing the program.

Candidates for the program must apply to the state through their school superintendent. Priority will be given to schools with a high level of academic assistance. Grants from the Wallace Foundation will fund the first two of six semesters for participants.

The model for the program is the University of Virginia’s Darden/Curren Partnership for Leaders in Education (PLE), a join venture of the Darden School of Business and the Curry School of Education. PLE works to establish aligned leadership among state, district and school-level administrators, legislators and board members and to build the internal capacity necessary to turn around low-performing schools. It has received national attention collaborating with some 40 school districts, in 10 states and in cities such as Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis and New Orleans.

“This program is developing very quickly,” said Dr. Vickie Gentry, dean of Northwestern’s College of Education. “We’re training faculty and developing courses that will start as B-term courses in the spring. Each participants’ needs will be different. It’s very prescriptive.”