How to turn around a failing school: lessons from 160 academies

This report from the Centre for High Performance – a team of academics from the universities of Oxford and Kingston and the London Business School – analyses the traits of successful academies across the country. It finds that low-performing schools can turn themselves around by following a series of prioritised steps.

The researchers suggest that failing schools should make the following eight changes in order to become successful: appoint new leaders and narrow their objectives, rebrand the school and communicate that change effectively to the wider community, expand the variety of services offered and improve admissions, exclude poor quality students, improve admissions and acquire a local primary school, centralise activities and improve facilities, improve student attendance and behavior, improve teaching capability, and introduce performance development systems.