Does switching students fix a school?

How do you fix a failing school?  Charlotte-Mecklenburg's turnaround plan for Hawthorne High illustrates the slippery nature of that all-important question.

You have to start by defining a failing school.  For the purposes of North Carolina's school improvement grants,  falling into the bottom 5 percent for performance on English and math exams qualifies.  That's a group that includes Hawthorne,  where fewer than 40 percent of students passed English I and algebra I in 2012.  Based on that,  CMS recently received a three-year grant.

But low scores at Hawthorne are hardly a surprise. It has been an alternative school serving ninth-graders who failed eighth-grade reading and math exams.

The CMS improvement strategy?  Phase out that program and replace it with a health science magnet.  The switch is almost guaranteed to boost pass rates.

The new Hawthorne High may well provide a valuable resource for students,  who will get a chance to work with nearby hospitals to prepare for high-demand careers.  But as a school improvement plan,  it seems a bit like reducing a hospital's mortality rates by replacing the intensive care unit with a maternity ward.  The numbers will improve,  but what does that meant for the sickest patients?