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Path to excellence. >> 13-year-old eric hall is in the seventh grade at orchard gardens, one of boston's poorest performing schools. he says he's seen a lot since he started there in kindergarten. >> i've seen different teachers, different principals. i've seen students come and go. >> reporter: but this year is different. >> now it's gym, writing, reading, math, pretty much -- i'm pretty much enjoying all of my classes. >> reporter: that's because orchard gardens is one of 5,000 schools around the country getting millions of dollars from the federal government to turn around. the goal, become...

We first visited the principal last september just before the school year started. >> we need to do something bold. we need to really restart orchard guardens. he hand picked his staff to replace the 80% that he fired. the turnaround rules mandate he replace at least half. he also has $3.7 million in grants to help him over the next three years. seven months into the year with standardized test season in full swing, we check back in. >> i did not imagine we would be this far. i know that within three years we can have over 90% of our kids proficient or advanced and on a college track. >> repor...

>> i have seen different princi come and go. >> now it's reading, writing, math. >> that's because it's one of 5,000 schools around the country getting millions of dollars from the federal government to turn around. the goal, to become a top-performing school. we visited last september just before the school year started. >> we need to do something bold. we need to really restart orchard garden. >> he hand-picked his staff to replace the 80% he fired. the turnaround rules mandate he replace half. and he also got grants to help him over the next three years. seven months 2into the year whee sta...

Schools around the government getting millions of dollars to turn around. we first visited the principal last september just before the school year started. >> we need to do something bold. we need to really restart orchard gardens. >> reporter: he hand-picked his staff to replace the 80% he fired. the turnaround rules mandate he replace at least half. he also has $3.7 million in grants to help him over the next three years. seven months into the year with standardized test season in full swing we we checked back in. >> i did not imagine we could be this far. in three years we'll have 90% of o...