The secrets behind one school’s remarkable turnaround

[Commentary] Twelve years ago, Maplewood Richmond Heights High School (MRH) in St Louis (MO) ranked among the area’s lowest-performing schools. With a 59-percent poverty demographic, low test scores, and dilapidated facilities, the school faced serious challenges that some thought insurmountable. A turnaround would require a bold vision -- and nothing less than a groundbreaking shift in approach. That turnaround happened, and in ways that many people didn’t think possible. This remarkable turnaround took a decade, and its trajectory has been grand and nuanced in ways that still amaze me. Where you once found decrepit buildings and students and staff who felt about as run-down as their physical surroundings, you now find community gardens and bee hives, art, and a vibrant use of technology throughout. In 2007, MRH become one of the first Missouri public high schools to hand out laptops to all students. Today, we are a one-to-one laptop school. All students receive a laptop, pay a small insurance fee, and are allowed to keep the computer forever upon graduation.