He’s brash. He’s outspoken. And his methods are unorthodox. But Steve Barr definitely gets the job done.

It all started last year in L.A. when Barr, founder of charter school management group Green Dot Public Schools,  decided to forcibly take over Locke High School—one of the largest and most troubled in the district. (That incredible must-read story here.) Opening up a new charter school is one thing. Taking over and transforming an existing public high school (by force!) is quite another. This bold move catapulted the soon-to-be-legendary revolutionary school reformer into the spotlight, putting him in a league of his own.

So when Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced his plan to fund a federal school turnaround program with the intention of closing 5,000 failing schools in the next five years and reopening them with new teachers and principals, who do you think he called for advice? You guessed it.

And that’s just the beginning. Among his outstanding accomplishments, Barr is also credited with successfully bridging the gap between charter schools and teachers unions.  Not only do the charter schools Green Dot manages in L.A. have union contracts, but AFT (and soon to be former UFT) President Randi Weingarten just signed a union contract on June 24th agreeing to represent teachers at Barr’s new charter school opening this fall in the Bronx. (She even said that the contract, from which the word “tenure” is conspicuously absent, should become a “national model.”)

So what’s next for school reform’s new superhero? According to an article in today’s Washington Post, Steve Barr might be headed for D.C.

Last week, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee met with Barr at a national conference of charter school leaders. They talked about the possibility of him running at least one of the District’s chronically under-performing high schools. The goal, Barr said,  would be to “create a model that Arne could use” as an example for how to turn around the nation’s lowest performing high schools. Of course, it helps that the model would be in Congress’ back yard.

Question: What proof do we have that the schools Barr takes over change for the better? Well so far, his charter schools in L.A. outperform the district’s regular public schools, and although Locke’s test results for the year aren’t out yet, considering how much safety, attendance, and student retention have improved since the takeover,  it’s hard to imagine them going anywhere but up.

In interviews Steve Barr seems passionate about what he does, and unwaveringly committed to the students whose lives his schools seek to improve. Frankly, it’s not everyday you find someone chomping at the bit to assume the daunting task of restructuring some of the scariest high schools in the country. I’m amazed by the work he’s done thus far, and eager to see what new challenges Steve Barr will take on in the future.

(Photo: Niels_Olson’s flicker photostream/Creative Commons)