In states that monitor them carefully and close down failing schools quickly, they work best.
Regrettably for children trapped in failing schools, the governor isn't content to oppose the referendum.
The government has also advertised for other private companies to bid to take over failing schools.
If primary reform was Labour's biggest achievement, turning around failing schools ranks a close second.
The parliamentary answer also indicates an attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils who attend outstanding and failing schools.
Brandeis was already on an official state list of failing schools and will shut down in 2012.
We need to not only hold failing schools accountable, we need to help turn those schools around.
"We've made a commitment to fix our failing schools, and we can't afford to wait, " the superintendent said.
So often these failing communities suffer from very high levels of crime, failing schools, poor quality housing, poor health.
He also suggested Ofsted had spent too much time focusing on failing schools.
Critics carp that the program will siphon off students from failing schools, leaving those institutions worse off than before.
In fact, the list of supposedly failing schools includes schools that are actually making extraordinary progress -- including Kenmore.
The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools and hidden prejudice and the circumstances of their birth.
These will be encouraged to take over failing schools and then to run them under contract to the state.
Failing schools will now have the incentive to get their acts together and start giving their students a genuine education.
In his speech to Politeia, Mr Gove said it was crucial to intervene in failing schools, particularly in poorer neighbourhoods.
This would see federal funds withdrawn from failing schools and given to parents to spend on the education of their choice.
State or city takeovers of "failing schools" are also becoming increasingly common.
New York City has undergone a decadelong experiment of shutting down failing schools and replacing them, in some instances, with smaller schools.
He said children should not be "left to struggle in failing schools".
She too overhauled her district, closing failing schools while improving test scores.
Councillor Ralph Berry, who holds the portfolio for children's services, said the council "had a duty" to intervene in and support failing schools.
But there have also been assertions that Mr Bush will push ahead with vouchers, focused on parents with pupils at repeatedly failing schools.
It would also pave the way for more schools to become academies, for reduced school inspections and for greater intervention in failing schools.
It set up a regimen of state reading and math tests for students in third through eighth grades, intended to identify failing schools.
By giving them two years to improve - backed by financial and practical help - more than 750 failing schools were turned around.
"You will need to work hard to explain how your plan won't create a new generation of failing schools", he told Mr Gove.
David Blunkett, the education secretary, has trampled over localism with peremptory instructions on school standards, and a willingness to wade into failing schools.
Middle-class families are allowed to participate in Indiana, while in most states, such programs are limited to low-income families or those in failing schools.
Ms Lynch-Walsh has criticised policies that punish teachers in failing schools.
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