School District Turnaround: Learning from Leadership in Lawrence, Massachusetts,

Skim headlines from the press coverage of school districts undergoing state takeover and turnaround and you will find significant signs of public frustration. Although the Newark Public Schools have been under state control since 1995, more recent school turnaround reforms following Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s $100 million 2010 gift to the district spurred thousands of Newark students to walk out of school, take to the streets, and block traffic in protest (Wichert, 2015; Russakoff, 2015).