Valerie Strauss Examines Value of School Improvement Grant Program | janresseger

Valerie Strauss Examines Value of School Improvement Grant Program | janresseger:

Valerie Strauss Examines Value of School Improvement Grant Program

Posted on December 30, 2013 by janresseger

The School Improvement Grant (SIG) program is one of the grant competitions by which the U.S. Department of Education under Secretary Arne Duncan is awarding Title I money to schools.  This particular program is for schools that score in the bottom 5 percent nationwide, the schools deemed failing.  The majority of these schools are located in the poorest neighborhoods of our big cities, places where poverty is highly concentrated.

There have been a number of criticisms of the SIG program. First, it is a grant program that provides money for a limited period.  It is easy for a school district to use the money for consultants or for programs to train teachers, but it is difficult to use it for reducing class size by hiring more teachers, or hiring counselors or music and art enrichment teachers because the money will eventually run out.  School districts without adequate state and local funding would have to eliminate any ongoing programs at the end of the federal grant period.

Second, it is a competitive program with winners and losers.  The Title I formula program, by