The $122,815,607 is being distributed by formula to Georgia and will then be competed out by the state to school districts.
School districts applying for the funds must have a state-identified "persistently lowest achieving" or a Tier III school, which is a school that has failed to meet annual yearly progress for two years.
Georgia's application, which includes its list of persistently lowest achieving schools, as defined by the state, can be found at www2.ed.gov/programs/sif/ summary/index.html.
Cobb County School District has six schools on the list. They are Cooper, Tapp, Griffin, and Smitha Middle Schools; Osborne High School; and the Devereux Academy.
Only one Marietta City School is on the list: Marietta's Sixth Grade Academy.
School districts will apply to the state for the funds this spring. When school districts apply, they must indicate that they will implement one of four models in their persistently lowest achieving schools: the turnaround, restart, school closure or transformation model.
Once schools receive SIG funds, they will be able to begin to spend them immediately to turn around schools this fall. States may apply to the Education Department for a waiver to allow them to spend funds over a three-year period. An additional $545,633,000 has been provided for SIG in 2010 and will be awarded to states to fund additional schools in the 2011-12 school year. The department has also made a request for an additional $900 million for the program in the 2011 budget.
Follow us on Twitter!
A $138,000,000 cut is the equivalent of closing 5 High Schools.
We are screwed.
Crooks and the School Board are the tools turning the screws.
They all must go.
... and frankly, I don't care if anyone agrees w/ me or not!
"the children in low performing schools have not had the exposure to the outside world like the children from other parts or the affluent parts of the county have. On CRCT tests vocabulary is used that these children have not ever been exposed to, vocabulary that is learned from exposure and hands on knowledge throughout their lives."
So, been there is saying that kids will not perform well on the CRCT if they've not been exposed to the language used in the questions. Is the test biased against the poor?
And, what kind of exposure is this money going to give these kids-how will the funds be used to target this necessary exposure? How do schools plan for that exposure??
So sad again!
four dramatic reforms: firing the entire staff, converting into a
charter school, replacing just the principal or closing entirely.
The "school improvement grant" program is designed to help states raise achievement at their worst schools." Is Cobb willing to receive this money knowing that the district will have to implement at least one of the four reforms listed above? I would love to know the answer to this from the Board and the Superintendent.