Beyond the silver bullet: Unveiling multiple pathways to school turnaround
What makes some underperforming schools improve while others continue to struggle? This project examines how different combinations of organizational conditions, rather than a single intervention, can help schools improve student outcomes and break persistent patterns of underachievement.
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Why there may be more than one path to improvement
School turnaround refers to the process through which schools reverse long-term patterns of poor performance and low student achievement. Much of the debate about school improvement searches for interventions that can be applied broadly across schools.
This research takes a different approach. Rather than looking for a single “silver bullet,” the project examines whether different combinations of conditions can produce successful school turnaround in different contexts.
Identifying pathways to school turnaround
The study draws on two samples of Swedish secondary schools, including 77 schools followed over nine years. It combines quantitative set-theoretical analysis with in-depth case studies.
This approach allows the researchers to examine which combinations of conditions are necessary or sufficient for substantial school improvement while taking differences in students’ socioeconomic backgrounds into account.
The findings challenge the idea that there is one universal model for turning around underperforming schools. Instead, different schools may require different combinations of strategies depending on their circumstances.
For school leaders and policymakers, this highlights the importance of understanding local conditions when designing improvement initiatives rather than relying exclusively on uniform approaches.
The project brings together researchers from the Stockholm School of Economics, Uppsala University, and Linköping University.
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Read the article on multiple pathways to school turnaround.