In the midst of such privation, School 4 is in its second year of getting an extra $ 2 million
in federal School Improvement Grant money on top of a roughly $ 4 million budget.
The UFT suggested binding arbitration or mediation a year ago when the DOE first refused to bargain in good faith on an evaluation system for struggling schools
receiving federal School Improvement Grant funding, and requested mediation again this year as the Jan. 17 deadline approached.
It remains uncertain what steps need to be taken to restructure schools recently identified as the state's lowest achieving - but local officials interested in applying
for federal School Improvement Grants must be cognizant of the fast approaching June 1 deadline.
New York City, alone, has almost $ 60 million in
federal School Improvement Grants at risk after its negotiations with the United Federation of Teachers around a pilot system for evaluating teacher performance broke down this past Friday.
Glendale won a three - year
federal School Improvement Grant with a faculty - approved plan that boosts the rigor of curriculum, extends class time, fosters parental engagement and community partnerships, and increases teacher development — all with staff input and collaboration between the faculty, administration and district.
«The mayor seems to be lost in his own fantasy world of education, the one where reality doesn't apply,» declared UFT President Michael Mulgrew in response to the mayor's State of the City speech on Jan. 12, in which, among other proposals, he threatened to fire half the staffs in 33 schools receiving
federal School Improvement Grant support.
This year, most of those schools in every state received
substantial federal School Improvement Grants, often a million dollars over three years, with the expectation that they will be «turned around» or made into much better schools.
So will New York State, where the education commissioner, John King, has proposed to cut off
federal School Improvement Grant dollars to districts that have not enacted the Empire State's teacher evaluation program.
As California officials have complained for more than a year, state education directors in most other parts of the country seemed to also question
whether federal school improvement grants were actually targeting the right schools.
This won't come as a surprise to anyone who has worked in one of these agencies or tracked their struggles to improve failing schools under NCLB, turn around the troubled districts that they've taken over, ensure that new educator evaluation systems end the «widget effect,» complete Race to the Top deliverables on time, or successfully
administer federal School Improvement Grants.
The administration has also
allocated federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) money for «persistently low - performing» schools adopting the Transformation model, which requires an overhaul of current teacher evaluation practices.
Duncan's policies, which have often relied on competitive grant programs, but he disagrees with Duncan's prescriptive turnaround plans — currently in effect in districts that have
taken federal School Improvement Grants.
Accordingly, my prediction is that that vast majority of «turnaround» efforts funded by the $ 3.5 billion
federal School Improvement Grant program and the $ 4.35 billion Race to the Top will look much like previous efforts, and therefore most will fail.
Under the terms
of federal School Improvement Grants that the DOE was awarded to help these schools succeed, the school district and the union must jointly develop a teacher evaluation system in low - achieving schools that receive the funds.
Under the group's proposal, the bonuses would double for teachers in struggling schools — the report suggests using the 33 schools eligible
for federal School Improvement Grants — but they wouldn't generate changes in base salary increases unless the teachers maintained the same rating for three straight years.
Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott and UFT President Michael Mulgrew on July 15 announced an important agreement that will help secure up to $ 65 million over the next two years
in federal School Improvement Grants, a U.S. Department of Education program that provides funding to help transform our nation's struggling schools.
PCAPS Coordinator Ron Whitehorne outlined the strategy for getting 10 % of Philadelphia Schools to be Sustainable Community Schools in four years, focusing on the demand that
federal School Improvement Grant money be used exclusively for that purpose.
The negotiations, which both sides agreed to in writing, were aimed at creating a system for fairly evaluating teachers, using both student performance and observation, in the 33 schools receiving
federal school improvement grants.
The Obama administration's four school turnaround models under
the federal School Improvement Grant program remain controversial, but first year results from at least one high school in Kentucky are promising.
Since 2010,
federal School Improvement Grants have given some of the nation's lowest - performing schools and districts significant funds and flexibilities to shake things up — and many have.
Is it any surprise that middle schools and high schools are significantly more likely to be subject to interventions via
the federal School Improvement Grants program?
It's how you end up with exciting victories like
the federal School Improvement Grant program, the Common Core, or teacher evaluation reform, that look a lot less victorious in hindsight.
Two years in,
the federal School Improvement Grant program shows momentum, but sustaining gains may be a challenge.
Josh Dunn talks with Education Next about continuing efforts by New York City Chancellor Joel Klein to close chronically failing schools — despite a ruling by a state court that the closings could not proceed — using
a federal School Improvement Grant.
The city announced in June, prior to the appellate ruling, that it was going to «transform» 11 of the district's schools and dramatically overhaul or close 23 others under a $ 300 million
federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program.
The latest study of
the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program appears to confirm Smarick's view, which he declared with chest - beating glee in a post on the EdNext blog.
But Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's plan was to focus squarely on improving neighborhood high schools, and
the federal school improvement grants are a centerpiece of that.
This series of three special reports examines implementation of
the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program.
The federal School Improvement Grant program «is likely to go down in the annals as one more pretty expensive, failed initiative,» said Rick Hess, director of education policy studies for the American Enterprise Institute, an independent public - policy think tank.
Education Week, the Education Writers Association and The Hechinger Report partnered with 18 news outlets in 16 states to investigate how $ 3 billion in
federal School Improvement Grants are being used to revitalize some of the nation's lowest - performing schools.
In fall 2011, Marshall High welcomed students to an upgraded facility and a brand - new staff, thanks to
a federal School Improvement Grant.
Assistance from City Year Corps, which provides schools with tutors, mentors and role models, is funded through
the federal School Improvement Grant program.
Nationally, 27 percent of the schools that have received
federal school improvement grants have lost 20 percent or more of their students in recent years, according to a Catalyst Chicago analysis of federal data.
The failure of
the federal School Improvement Grant program and countless other «turnaround» initiatives is convincing policymakers that nondistrict alternatives are essential.
As
the federal School Improvement Grants program winds down, Tim Prudente of the Baltimore Sun writes about one low - performing school in Baltimore, Mary Rodman Elementary, which is using one of the last grants to be given under the program.
During your pre-Turkey trot out of town, you might have missed the big news about
the federal School Improvement Grants program.