Lost in the flurry over Race to the Top on Monday was the announcement of additional School Improvement Grant (SIG) awards. And hey, what do you know, Washington actually got something — $17 million to help turn around our lowest-performing schools (see our application here). Not quite as large as Race to the Top ($3.5 billion compared to $4 billion), the SIG program is significant all the same [what's a half a billion difference anyway?].
We in Washington have been counting on these funds to help us implement the accountability system developedby the State Board of Education. Schools identified as “persistently low performing” per federal criteria in the nin districts selected by the state are eligible for funds to implement one of four turnaround models (turnaround, restart, closure and transformation). In fact, the enactment of the accountability section of SB 6696 (commonly referred to as the Race to the Top legislation) was largely dependent on the state securing a SIG award.
The nine selected districts in Washington:
- Seattle
- Tacoma
- Marysville
- Yakima
- Wellpinit
- Sunnyside
- Highline
- Grandview
- Longview
No word yet on which specific schools in each district will receive funds.
