Dive Brief:

• A new profile from Education Week spotlights Lawrence Public Schools, a 14,000-student district in Massachusetts that was taken over by the state in 2011. 
• The piece focuses on the takeover's success, specifically breaking down some takeaways from Massachusetts' process, like the fact that the state partnered with both charter management organizations and teacher unions to run schools.
• Since the takeover, math proficiency has increased 13% and reading proficiency is up 3%. 

Dive Insight:

While Lawrence's schools are still struggling, the article points to improvements as signs of change. It also includes a list of "Key Turnaround Strategies": expanded learning time (adding between 200-300 hours annually); partnerships (partnering with charter-management organizations and the Lawrence teachers' union to run schools); data (working with Boston-based Achievement Network to train schools on how to analyze data); school autonomy and accountability (giving principals authority over calendars, interim assessments, and staffing); staffing (opportunities to earn more money based on proficiency and performance, and the firing of 50% of principals, 20% of assistant principals, and 10% of teachers). 

State takeovers are a touchy subject, however, because of failures in other states (see Detroit and Newark).