Today, thousands of students across the United States stand little to no chance of college enrollment, success, and graduation because of the inadequate K-12 education they are receiving. Many of these at-risk students are clustered within the country’s most severely underperforming schools. The presence of these failing public schools is a deep societal injustice, and fixing them.

“Restarting” an underperforming district school – distinct from other, more incremental school improvement efforts – is a method for realizing dramatic academic improvements for existing and incoming students in failing schools over a short amount of time.  The idea is centered on enabling school management organizations, such as Unlocking Potential, to make comprehensive changes to an underperforming school’s personnel, operations, culture, and educational program. The school’s quality is rapidly improved and underserved students make immediate achievement gains.