Draft guidelines for school improvement grants released

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on Wednesday released the draft grant guidelines for $3.5 billion in stimulus funding that will be used to turn around the country's worst-performing low-income schools over the next three years.

But it's too early to say which Wisconsin schools will make the "worst" list and be eligible for a considerable influx of money.

According to the state Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin expects to receive $42 million of the $3.5 billion in Title 1 school improvement grants that are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, said Mary Kleusch, the state's Title 1 director.

Duncan's proposed guidelines call for states to identify their bottom 5% of Title 1 schools in terms of school improvement status and implement one of four comprehensive reform models:

• Turnaround: Replace the principal and at least 50% of the staff; adopt new or revised instructional strategies; consider a longer school day or year; implement more social services; and get and keep highly qualified teachers.

• Restart: Close the school and reopen it under the management of a charter school or education management organization. The school must admit all former students who wish to attend the reopened school.

• Closure: Close the school and transfer the students to higher-performing schools in the district.

• Transformation: Implement a comprehensive transformation strategy that replaces the school leadership, rewards teacher and leader effectiveness, extends learning time and offers community-oriented services, and provides operating flexibility and other support.

But identifying the bottom 5% of Title 1 schools in a state can be harder than it sounds.

"We're still sorting through the guidance," Kleusch said, adding that the bottom 5% of Title 1 schools in Wisconsin could be different based on the criteria used to rank them.

"Normally, school improvement dollars are allocated to schools for them to use on implementing their school improvement plan," Kleusch said.

If a school is doing poorly in reading, for instance, its school improvement plan would dictate more reading resources, and the school could fund those resources with the Title 1 money.

The $3.5 billion in Title 1 grants is far greater than the normal, federal fiscal year allocation of $546 million. Wisconsin's share of Title 1 school improvement funds is typically from $7 million to $9 million, said Kleusch.