Pennsylvania Department of Education Announces $101 Million in Federal Funds for Bold Reforms to Boost Student Achievement

HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dozens of Pennsylvania schools will share in $101 million in grants to implement bold reforms designed to raise student achievement, acting Education Secretary Thomas E. Gluck announced today.

The department will distribute $85 million in School Improvement Grants, or SIG, from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, in combination with $16 million in regularly-allocated federal Title I SIG, to 57 schools. The grants are to implement specific, aggressive reforms designed to substantially improve student performance in schools that have a high percentage of students performing below grade level, and where insufficient progress has been made over the past 5 years.

Had Pennsylvania been among the states selected to receive federal Race to the Top funding, these same reforms would have been more widely distributed across commonwealth schools.

Grant awards were based on a competitive process according to federally-established guidelines. Grantees will have three years to use the funds.

"The School Improvement Grants will give a real boost to aggressive academic reforms in schools that need the additional support and resources the most," Gluck said. "I applaud the schools' willingness to take on this ambitious work and for their commitment to making real changes in schools where too many students are not achieving the progress needed for success."

The federal guidance established four bold school reform models. Eligible schools had to commit to one of the four school intervention models: Turnaround, Restart, School Closure or Transformation.

The Turnaround model goal is to "turn around" schools through the implementation of nine broad strategies, including replacement of the principals, high-quality professional development, adoption of new governance, and replacement of at least 50 percent of staff.

The Transformation model includes the use of rigorous, transparent, and equitable evaluation systems for teachers and principals, high-quality professional development and design and development of curriculum with teacher and principal involvement.

The Restart model enables a district to re-open a school as a charter school or elect to have an education management organization run the school.

School Closure enables districts to transfer students to other, higher-achieving schools within the district's boundaries, within a reasonable proximity.

These School Improvement Grants were awarded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the No Child Left Behind Act to provide support for major school improvement and reform efforts.

Schools eligible for SIG included the lowest performing Title I schools whose Adequate Yearly Progress status is School Improvement or Corrective Action, and Title I-eligible schools that are the lowest achieving and have not made satisfactory progress on state assessments. Title I-eligible schools are those that have a high percentage of economically-disadvantaged students.

The awards were competitive, and Pennsylvania's criteria for selecting schools required federal approval.  Applications were scored by outside peer reviewers, and funding priority was given to schools that met the criteria to be identified as Persistently Lowest Achieving, a federal category of schools.

For more information, visit the Department of Education online at http://www.education.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/federal_programs/7374/school_improvement/619986.

Media contact:

Steve Weitzman, Department of Education; 717-783-9802

Editor's note: Below is the list of awardees, the reform model that will be implemented and the award amount to be expended over three years.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Education