The School District of Philadelphia’s Renaissance Schools Initiative was first implemented in 2010-11. The initiative was intended to spur dramatic improvements in student performance over a short period of time by providing additional resources, increased attention, and other strategies to improve persistently low-performing schools. This research brief explores changes in school climate after a school turnaround effort at School District of Philadelphia Promise Academies and Renaissance Charter schools. Specifically, it looks at whether Promise Academies and Renaissance Charter schools demonstrated a change in the rate of serious incidents and a reduction in the percentage of students involved in a serious incident.

Important findings include:

• Nearly all Renaissance Charter schools showed a decrease in the serious incident and offender rates since turnaround.
• One Promise Academy showed a decrease in the serious incident rate since turnaround. The remaining five Promise Academies were at pre-turnaround serious incident levels or higher. The rate of offenders declined at Promise Academy elementary and middle schools and increased at Promise Academy high schools.
• Changes in school climate appear to be correlated with changes in student achievement in Renaissance Charters and Promise Academies.

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