School Improvement Grants (also known as SIG grants) were part of a little known portion of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) until 2009. Congress appropriated just $38 million for SIG grants in 2008. But as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, $3.5 billion was set aside for SIG grants. That made the program one of the landmarks of the Obama Administration's education focus, alongside programs like Race for the Top and the Administration's push for the adoption of Common Core standards.
The Four SIG Models
SIG grants are intended as a tool to improve the academic performance of schools that fall in the lowest five percent on a state's accountability measures under ESEA. In order to receive grant funding, a school has to pick one of the four grant implementation models: the turnaround model, the school closure model, the transformation model, or the restart model. Here are details on the requirements of those models:
- The Turnaround Model - Replace the school's principal and at least 50% of the school's staff. Give the new principal increased flexibility in areas like budgeting, length of school day or year, etc. Provide teachers with professional development that is embedded in the job.
- The School Closure Model - Close the school and move the school's students to higher achieving schools within the district..
- The Restart Model - Convert the school into a charter school. This may involve closing the school and reopening it under the auspices of a private charter management organization.
- The Transformation Model - Replace the principal. Take steps (including increased professional development) to improve the effectiveness of school administrators and teachers. Put a new, more rigorous professional evaluation system into place that includes student performance as a factor.
SIG grants are awarded to states. The states in turn award the money to individual local school districts to use in implementing one of the four models at qualifying schools over a three-year period. SIG grants are sometimes referred to as 1003(g) ("Ten Oh Three Gee") grants because they are authorized under section 1003(g) of ESEA.
The Controversy Behind SIG Grants
Like much of President Obama's education agenda (and like school reform in general), SIG grants are controversial. Many stakeholders in education policy see SIG grants as a way to entice or coerce states into making changes in state education law.
- Teacher Evaluation Systems - The Turnaround Model and the Transformation Model both try to apply federal ideas about teacher evaluations in the state setting. This includes the idea of merit pay for teachers who achieve preset professional goals. It also includes linking student academic performance directly to a teacher's evaluation.
- Seniority - Three of the four SIG grant models require personnel and staffing changes that can conflict with state laws on teacher seniority.
- Charter Schools - A number of states still don't have strong charter school laws. The SIG grant restart model helps encourage states to change this.
SIG Grant Trends
Because SIG grant funds flow through state education offices and on to local school districts in almost every state, it's difficult to determine exactly how many schools have received SIG grants. One Associated Press article from December 2010 put the number at 730 for the 2010-11 school year now ending. About half those schools were high schools. Just over 70% of SIG grant schools adopted the transformation model; that's the only one of the four models that allows a school's staff to stay in place in the school.
Since SIG grant funding has been relatively small in the past, it's difficult to say yet whether the new emphasis on SIG grants will result in real improvements in academic performance or whether it will simply serve more as a way of furthering the federal agenda on educational change.
Sources
- 730 US schools trying to reinvent themselves, Associated Press, December 9, 2010.
- Highest Percentage of Turnaround Funds Are Going To High Schools, US Department of Education.
- Dakarai Aarons, Survey Finds Limited Familiarity, Success With Turnarounds, Education Week, August 31, 2010.
- School Improvement Fund, US Department of Education
Greg Cruey - Greg Cruey is an educator and journalist. He works as an educational interventionist specializing in a small, rural school in Central ...
Join the Conversation