Low-performing schools in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County show improvement with NC's 'Restart' model

Three Winston-Salem/Forsyth County schools have come off the low-performing list after adopting a state model of reform called “Restart.”

Three more schools in the district are now applying to do the same. 

North Carolina has four models of reform that continually low-performing schools can apply for: Turnaround, Transformation, Closure, or Restart. 

The Restart model allows these schools to operate with the same flexibilities of charter schools in order to address barriers to improvement. 

Timisha Barnes-Jones, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools assistant superintendent of talent development and school transformation, explained what that has looked like in the district during a Board of Education meeting on Tuesday.  

“We have leveraged the hiring flexibility, which allows our Restart schools to hire excellent teachers who may not already be fully certified," Barnes-Jones said. "We've used some of the budget flexibilities to purchase some instructional materials from various vendors that align to our school improvement plans in the schools. Also to purchase some additional professional development.”

Five schools in the district have adopted the Restart model so far. Cook Literacy Model School came off the state’s low-performing list within two years of being in the program.

“And then last year, Kimberley Park and Ashley Academy both exceeded growth and came off of the low-performing school list," Barnes-Jones said. "And so it's exciting that they're able to leverage some of these flexibilities and be very innovative in how we're moving the dial for our schools.”

Shaunne Hall is the principal of Mineral Springs Middle School, and is looking to adopt the Restart model too. She says she lost a great teacher last year because although she had her doctorate, she didn’t have a teaching license. 

“As I try not to get emotional, it takes grit. It takes the understanding of our culture to be at Mineral Springs," Hall said. "It’s not just having a teacher license.”

The Restart model would have allowed Hall to retain that teacher. 

The Board of Education unanimously voted to authorize Restart applications for her school, as well as Mineral Springs Elementary and Philo-Hill Magnet Academy. 

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.