Purpose:

The Title I School Improvement Grants will provide states and districts the money they need to leverage change and turn around schools. Authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 2002, the program did not receive funding until fiscal year 2007. The current $3.5 billion provides an unprecedented opportunity for states and districts to implement significant reforms to transform chronically low-performing schools.

Current Program Operations:

Under the ESEA, states and districts use school improvement funds for a range of interventions, including restructuring Title I schools that fail to make adequate yearly progress for five years. So far, the vast majority of these chronically underperforming schools have adopted the least rigorous restructuring intervention option required by the ESEA.

Draft program requirements:

Every state must identify the bottom five percent of its Title I schools in school improvement status and target the majority of the school improvement funds to implement robust and comprehensive reforms to dramatically transform school culture and improve student academic outcomes. The Secretary is offering states flexibility to concentrate funding over multiple years to support the kind of dramatic, far-reaching changes that have not been possible under the existing program. Because Title I disproportionately supports elementary schools, the Secretary will grant waivers allowing states and districts to use school improvement funds to intervene in low-performing secondary schools that are eligible for, but don't receive, Title I money.

Under rules the Department of Education is releasing for comments, districts will choose from four models of turning around their schools. Those models are:

• Turnarounds: Replace the principal and at least 50 percent of the staff and also adopt new or revised instructional strategies. The new leadership needs to consider extending the school day and year, offering social services, and recruiting, placing, and developing highly effective teachers.
• Re-starts: Close the school and re-open it under the management of a charter organization or an education management organization. The school must admit, within the grades it serves, all former students who wish to attend.
• Closures: Close the school and transfer its students to higher-performing schools in the district.
• Transformations: Implement a comprehensive transformation strategy that, at a minimum, replaces the school leadership and develops and rewards teacher and leader effectiveness; adopts comprehensive instructional programs; extends time for students and staff and offers community-oriented services; and provides operating flexibility and intensive support.

Districts should choose the strategy that works best for each school. To ensure districts are choosing a variety of strategies, any district with 9 or more schools in school improvement will not be allowed to use any single strategy in more than half of its schools.