School Improvement Grants

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School & District Management Hindsight Improves the Picture for Obama-Era School Improvement Program
A decade after the Education Department launched its $7 billion school improvement grants and four years after Congress killed the program, the most comprehensive longitudinal study to date paints the much-maligned program in a potentially better light.
Sarah D. Sparks, January 9, 2020
3 min read
Education Funding Report Roundup School Improvement
A gloomy federal analysis of the Obama administration's multibillion dollar School Improvement Grant program missed the boat, according to a report released last week by FutureEd, a nonpartisan think tank at Georgetown University.
Alyson Klein, September 18, 2018
1 min read
School & District Management Dismal Federal Study of School Improvement Grant Program Missed the Boat, Report Says
A federal analysis on the School Improvement Grant program ignored more positive localized pictures of the program, and had design flaws, a new report says.
Alyson Klein, September 13, 2018
3 min read
School & District Management Eligibility for Federal School Improvement Grants Helped Ohio Students, Study Says
Academic achievement at Ohio schools eligible for School Improvement Grants during the Obama administration increased for a few years, a new study says, but SIG's legacy remains complicated.
Andrew Ujifusa, August 6, 2018
3 min read
Education Opinion School Improvement Grants Were Destined to Fail
Spending billions on out-of-school factors will result in better school performance.
Walt Gardner, January 30, 2017
1 min read
Education Funding Report Roundup School Improvement
Adopting a school improvement model under the multibillion-dollar federal school improvement grants didn't lead to any significant improvements in students' math or reading test scores, graduation rates, or college enrollment, according to the Institute of Education Science's final evaluation report on the program.
Sarah D. Sparks, January 24, 2017
1 min read
Education Technical Assistance Key to Rural School Principals in SIG Work, Report Finds
Just 5 percent of principals reported implementing all 12 of the School Improvement Grant transformation strategies, and on average, principals reported fully implementing six out of the 12.
Andrew Ujifusa, May 19, 2016
3 min read
Professional Development Report Roundup School Improvement
The federal School Improvement Grants led to significant turnover among leaders and teachers in persistently struggling schools, finds the final report in a series of 12 studies on the grants that were conducted by the American Institutes for Research for the Institute of Education Sciences.
Sarah D. Sparks, April 19, 2016
1 min read
Education Funding U.S. Department of Education Remakes School Improvement Grant Program
States can cook up their own turnaround interventions for low-performing schools using federal SIG dollars and submit them to the U.S. Secretary of Education for approval.
Alyson Klein, February 5, 2015
4 min read
Federal Congress Tweaks School Improvement Grants, i3 in Spending Bill
Lawmakers want the School Improvement Grant program to be more flexible for states. And they want to see the Investing in Innovation grant program focused on high schools.
Alyson Klein, December 15, 2014
4 min read
Federal How Well Did Schools Implement School Improvement Grants?
None of the low-performing schools participating in an IES survey took all the steps they were encouraged to take.
Alyson Klein, October 28, 2014
1 min read
Federal Education Department Proposes Big Changes to School Improvement Grant Program
Floundering schools that receive federal turnaround dollars would get some new options for using the money under draft guidance slated to be published in the federal register Monday.
Alyson Klein, September 5, 2014
5 min read
Assessment News in Brief School Improvement Grant Reanalysis Shows Smaller Gains Than First Reported
A revamped analysis of the Obama administration's controversial and costly School Improvement Grant program continues to show that billions of federal dollars produced mixed results.
Alyson Klein, February 26, 2014
1 min read
Education School Improvement Grant Program Gets Mixed Grades in Ed. Dept. Analysis
Two-thirds of schools that entered the federal School Improvement Grant program in its first year have seen gains in student achievement, but another third saw declines or no change.
Alyson Klein, November 21, 2013
6 min read