(1) Purpose of Program. School
Improvement Grants, authorized under section 1003(g) of Title I of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Title I or ESEA), are grants,
through State educational agencies (SEAs), to local educational agencies (LEAs)
for use in Title I schools identified for improvement, corrective action, or
restructuring that demonstrate the greatest need for the funds and the
strongest commitment to use the funds to provide adequate resources in order to
raise substantially the achievement of their students so as to enable the
schools to make adequate yearly progress and exit improvement status.
(2) Terms and Conditions. Under
the final requirements published in the Federal Register in December 2009,
School Improvement Grant ("SIG") funds are to be focused on each State's
persistently lowest-achieving Title I schools in improvement, corrective
action, or restructuring ("Tier I schools") and, at an LEA's option,
persistently-lowest achieving secondary schools that are eligible for, but do
not receive, Title I, Part A funds ("Tier II schools"). An LEA may also use
School Improvement Grant funds in Title I schools in improvement, corrective
action, or restructuring that are not identified as persistently
lowest-achieving schools ("Tier III schools"). In the Tier I and Tier II
schools an LEA chooses to serve, the LEA must implement one of four
intervention models: turnaround model, restart model, school closure, or
transformation model. The School Improvement Grant funds will remain available
for obligation and expenditure through September 30, 2013.
(3) Eligible Recipients. In
awarding subgrants, an SEA must "give priority to the local educational
agencies with the lowest-achieving schools that demonstrate - (A) the greatest
need for the funds; and (B) the strongest commitment to ensuring that such
funds are used to provide adequate resources to enable the lowest-achieving
schools to meet the goals under school and local educational improvement,
corrective action, and restructuring plans under section 1116." The regulatory
requirements expand upon these provisions, further defining LEAs with the
"greatest need" for School Improvement Grant funds and the "strongest
commitment" to ensuring that such funds are used to raise substantially student
achievement in the persistently lowest-achieving schools in the State.
To identify the persistently lowest-achieving schools in the
State, and SEA must take into account (a) the academic achievement of the "all
students" group in a school in terms of proficiency on the State's assessments
under section 1111(b)(3) of the ESEA in reading/language arts and mathematics
combined; (b) the school's lack of progress on those assessments over a number
of years in the "all students" group; and (c) the school's graduation rate
(less than 60 percent over a three-year period).
(4) Criteria for Award. The
annual grant award process consists of identifying the persistently
lowest-achieving schools eligible for the grant, notifying the local
educational agencies and providing the required School Improvement Grant
application, reviewing and approving submitted applications, and notifying
grantees of awards following State Board of Education Approval.
LEAs must submit a comprehensive School Improvement Grant
application to the State educational agency, which must: identify the school
intervention model the LEA will implement in each Tier I and Tier II school it
commits to serve; demonstrate that the LEA has analyzed the needs of each
school, selected an intervention for each school, and has the capacity to
enable each school to implement, fully and effectively, the required activities
of the school intervention model it has selected; describe actions it has
taken, or will take to design and implement interventions consistent with the
final requirements; a budget indicating the amount of School Improvement Grant
funds the LEA will use to support school improvement activities; include the
required assurances; indicate any waivers that the LEA will implement with
respect to the School Improvement Grant funds; and include any other provisions
required by the United States Department of Education or SEA.
(5) Directions and Deadlines for
Applying. Requests for information and applications should be directed
to the Office of Education Support and Improvement, School Improvement, 1870
Twin Towers East, 205 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive SE, Atlanta, Georgia
30334.
