Central Falls Case Study
Printer-friendly versionIn January of 2010, Central Falls High School (CFHS) was identified as one of Rhode Island’s persistently lowest‐achieving schools. Schools identified as persistently lowest-achieving are required to choose among four possible intervention models: turnaround, restart, school closure, or transformation model. The Central Falls School District chose to utilize the transformation model and outlined three major goals for the initiative: increase the graduation rate, increase mathematics proficiency rates, and improve the culture and climate of the school. The CFHS Case Study conducted by AISR documents the implementation of the transformation initiative.
AISR is partnering with the Education Alliance at Brown University to co-write three yearly reports on the CFHS Transformation. The reports will combine the extensive data collected by both teams and will evaluate and document the high school's transformation effort. The research team's data collection strategy includes interviews and focus groups conducted with teachers, staff, school, district and union leadership, students, families, and community partners, engaging both individuals and stakeholder groups, as well as observations and other qualitative and quantitative data sources (e.g. climate surveys, NECAP scores, etc.). The analysis will address challenges of the turnaround effort, facilitate participants’ reflections on the effort, and communicate the story of the high school’s reform to external stakeholders.