State Awards Millions to Failing Schools
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Seven of the state’s lowest-achieving schools are receiving $5.4 million in federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) funding over the next three years to help implement state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Deborah Gist’s school reform plan, the state Department of Education announced this afternoon.
The targeted schools, all from Providence and Pawtucket, received the awards based on reform plans turned in last fall by their own communities, Gist said in a RIDE release.
“With input from students, teachers, parents, and other community stakeholders, each of these schools has developed an ambitious plan for improving learning and achievement,” she said.
The schools, with the money they will receive annually under the grant:
From Providence: Pleasant View Elementary School, $424,328; Mount Pleasant High School, $325,290; and the Unite Providence! cluster (Carl G. Lauro Elementary School, Gilbert Stuart Middle School and Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School), $351,788.
From Pawtucket: Shea and Tolman senior high schools, $349,297 each.
Under the protocol developed by RIDE two years ago, each school selects a reform plan from among the four outlined and builds on it through a group of stakeholders convened by the superintendents, one of the components of the federal Department of Education’s Race to the Top program, which helps fund Rhode Island educational reforms.
The UP! schools chose the Restart model, in which they will operate under a joint labor-management compact between the Providence School District and Providence Teachers Union. Schools opting for Restart also have the choice of operating as a regional collaborative, charter school or educational management organization.
The other four schools chose the Transformation model, which involves replacing the principal (unless hired after the reform process got under way, rigorous evaluations that include rewards for increasing student achievement and removal of those who do not improve their professional practice, instructional reform, increased learning time, ongoing community engagement, and operational flexibility regarding staffing and budgeting.
These grants represent the second round of SIG grants to improve perennially low-achieving schools. The first-round schools, in their second year of a combined $11 million in funding, are Central Falls High School and four Providence schools: the B. Jae Clanton and Juanita Sanchez complexes, Lillian Feinstein Elementary School at Sackett Street, and Roger Williams Middle School.
The RIDE protocol and methodology for determining the lowest-performing schools are based on guidance from the federal Department of Education regarding the use of funds for high-poverty (Title 1) schools and Race to the Top grant applications.
