Examining the experiences of groups of schools in the US
The Confederation of School Trusts has recently released a conceptual model for how trusts improve their schools.
The ‘Curate clear goals’ strand of this conceptual model emphasises the need for trusts to use evidence to support their decision making. However, while there is now considerable evidence around how
to organise teaching and learning, there remains a lack of evidence about how trusts should go about improving groups of schools. This is partly because trusts are a relatively recent development in England.
This paper reviews evidence from the USA, where there is a much longer history of efforts to improve groups of schools based on federal turnaround initiatives, charter school reforms, and school district reforms.
Research in these areas has begun to mature in recent years, providing a body of evidence that can help to inform decisions by trust leaders.
