In focusing on students' psychological and emotional well-being, in addition to academics, Turnaround occupies a middle ground between the educators and politicians who believe schools should be more like community centers, and the education-reform movement, with its no-excuses mantra.
The two men -- the respected medical academic and the corporate turnaround artist famed for resuscitating the Snapple beverage brand -- had been brought in a year before to lead the rescue of Mount Sinai, one of a handful of elite teaching hospitals in New York City.
He cites turnaround successes with a crippled academic medical department and a stagnant national association of ear, nose and throat specialists.
Maureen Moakley, the chair of the political-science department at the University of Rhode Island, and a prominent academic voice in the discussion of Providence's turnaround, told me that Cianci was largely justified in taking credit for the changes.
Draft documents detailing how the agency plans to make such data available contains small print that may severely limit access and that constitutes a turnaround from earlier promises for openness, academics say.
But that same evaluation suggested that Turnaround needed to put more emphasis on improving the academic environment in the classroom.
Arranging for extra funds for supplies and instruments, teacher training, partnerships with cultural organizations and high-profile mentors like Mr. Close, Turnaround is trying to use the arts to raise academic performance across the board.
Dr. Lindgren said that there had been a "major turnaround in the fiscal area" in the schools and that academic achievement had improved, "although it is not where it needs to be".
The Department of Education advocates raising academic standards, using student test scores to evaluate teachers, and implementing school "turnaround" policies that include firing staff, closing schools, and converting them to charters.
