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State education managers on Friday identified the first 26 schools that will participate in Utah's new school turnaround program.
The schools represent the worst-performing 3 percent of public schools based on the state's school grading system, with exceptions made for alternative and special needs programs.
Under the law, passed during the most recent legislative session, a turnaround school that improves its school grade will receive additional state funding.
But schools that fail to improve within three years could be subject to sanctions, including school closure or the conversion of district schools into state-run charters.
"I know there are some consequences, as it were, or some penalties if we're not able to turn it around," said Lincoln Elementary Principal Afton Lambson. "We've just decided we're going to focus on our intense efforts to do our best."
Though Lincoln was selected for the turnaround program, it is not in the bottom 15 percent of Utah's Title 1 schools, according to a report for 2015-2016 released this week by the state Office of Education. Last year's report identified Lincoln as a priority school, meaning it was among the lowest-performing 5 percent of Title 1 schools, a designation given to schools in low-income areas that receive supplemental federal funding.
Granite School District had nine other schools named to the turnaround program, the most of any Utah district.
Mitch Nerdin, Title 1 director for Granite School District, said he wasn't surprised to see so many Granite schools on the list.
School grading and Utah's year-end testing system are primarily designed to measure the number of at-risk students in a school, Nerdin said.
He said Granite School District enrolls 10 percent of the state's students, but receives 20 percent of Utah's Title 1 funding.
"We have a double representation of poverty in our district," he said.
The turnaround list also included schools from Alpine, Canyons, Kane, Ogden and San Juan school districts, as well as nine charter schools.
Nerdin said the district is confident that its schools will improve within the program's three-year time period. Many of the turnaround schools were already participating in improvement efforts before the list was released.
But what separates Utah's turnaround program from those initiatives, he said, is the threat of punishment if test scores do not improve.
"This one does have quite a heavy-handed approach," he said. "That might cause some folks some angst."
Utah Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, sponsored the bill creating the turnaround program. It calls for school administrators to create committees composed of teachers and parents, and work with outside consultants to improve student performance.
He said new laws require time to develop and he was pleased that the first cohort of schools had been identified.
"I'm glad we've made it to this point," he said. "Now these turnaround teams can be chosen for the schools and we can move forward."
He said the assistance and funding awarded through the programs make it unlikely that schools will be subject to the law's sanctions.
"I'm pretty confident that we won't have to implement some of those measures," he said. "We just need to give these folks the tools and the help they need to turn things around."
Lambson said he sees the law as an additional layer of support from the state.
Lincoln is working on a school-improvement strategy that includes consultants from the University of Utah.
The school also increased the amount of time that teachers are expected to meet together in strategic teams.
"We are now collaborating 10 times each month," he said. "We've built that into our school day. It's after school, it's before school and sometimes on weekends."
State Superintendent Brad Smith said the goal is to not interrupt or duplicate what's already happening at schools, but to augment improvement efforts.
The state Office of Education is in the process of selecting its stable of consultants, Smith said, and developing a training program for school principals.
"I find it energizing," he said. "It is so exciting to me to have a group of schools that I get to work with and get my fat butt out of my office."
Smith said he understands the anxiety surrounding the turnaround program. But he added that schools can't be allowed to continue to fail and the program will encourage administrators to keep trying new strategies until performance improves.
"They have nothing to fear or be anxious about with me because I am nothing but an equally anxious, critical friend who is going to be there in any way I can be to help them and their districts excel," he said.