States and schools are working through ambitious projects to turn around low-performing schools, with the help of billions in federal aid. Now there鈥檚 a new tool to help educators, researchers, and the otherwise curious follow the money, and the progress, school by school.
An by Education Sector, a Washington think tank, allows the public to review the strategies being tried though the $3.5 billion federal School Improvement Grant program, broken out on a Web-based map. (See below.)
The SIG program gave states funds to turn around low-performing schools. States have the flexibility to select schools based on their own measures of academic strengths and weaknesses.
Schools in the program choose from four models for school improvement: closing a school; turning it over to a charter operator or school management group; turnaround, or replacing the principal and part of its staff; and transformation, which involves changing school leadership, putting in place more supports for teachers and more demanding academic standards, among other options.
Ed Sector鈥檚 initial analysis, 鈥�A Portrait of School Improvement Grantees,鈥� finds that 73 percent of SIG schools are using the transformation approach鈥攏ot surprising, given that it鈥檚 widely regarded as the most . Transformation is the exclusive model in 15 states. (澳门跑狗论坛 has reported on the popularity of the transformation option, and the challenges facing states and schools through the SIG program.) Restarts and school closure were unpopular, Ed Sector found, also probably not surprising, given the volatility of taking those steps.
One intriguing piece of Ed Sector鈥檚 analysis focuses on charter schools, which make up 56 of the 843 participating SIG schools. The relative autonomy of charters might suggest that it would be easier to close those schools if they鈥檙e struggling, but the SIG data suggests that the step is rarely chosen.
Ed Sector notes that 75 percent of the identified SIG charters choose the 鈥渢ransformation鈥� model. In doing so, they were agreeing to adopt many of the same strategies, like extended learning time, that charters 鈥渙ften deploy to differentiate themselves from public schools in the first place,鈥� the report observes.
Of 56 charters receiving SIG funds, 22 are in Texas, which has seen big growth in charters, but where charters have 鈥渧arying degrees of performance,鈥� Ed Sector says.
Once you鈥檝e had time to play with the SIG tool鈥攋ust hover and click鈥攜ou鈥檒l be able to offer an analysis of your own.
