Principal Perceptions of the Impact of Turnaround Practices on Student Achievement in New York City Charter Schools

Principal leadership is at the core of successful school turnaround. This qualitative study explored principals’ perceptions of the success or failure of turnaround methods in their New York City charter school communities. Principal leadership of low-performing schools is one of the most important elements of turnaround success (Stronge & Xu, 2021). While much research has been conducted to determine what makes a principal effective or ineffective, not much research exists that reveals the perspective of turnaround principals regarding the importance of their roles in dramatically increasing student achievement. The theoretical framework for this study was guided by the work of Glaser and Strauss who developed the “Grounded Theory” approach to research in the 1960s. The researcher conducted 19 structured interviews with New York City charter school principals through Zoom and transcribed the participants’ responses. Rich data were collected from the interviews. Inductive coding was used through the Creswell model to collect participant responses, identify themes and patterns in themes, and examine emerging theories developed through an analysis of the data. Three themes emerged that shared the principals’ perspectives on the most impactful turnaround practices: preparation for school turnaround leadership, principal understanding of and role in turnaround practices, and impact of school culture and climate on turnaround. This research study has implications for the preparation of stronger charter school turnaround leaders