Feds add parent engagement condition to new SIG money
(District of Columbia) Parent and family engagement requirements will become a central tenet of new rules governing the federal government’s largest program for turning around the nation’s lowest performing schools.
The School Improvement Grant program, which has provided more than $5 billion to struggling schools since 2009, has undergone a restructuring as a result of the budget agreement last December between Congressional leaders and President Barack Obama.
The key deal point agreed to by the administration was that states would be allowed to design their own intervention option to go with the four, aggressive and rigid improvement models that Obama had previously required.
The appropriation bill also gave the U.S. Department of Education an opening to introduce new conditions for schools receiving SIG money – including one over parent and family engagement.
As part of the rule-making process, the department issued proposed regulations published in the Federal Registry Monday, opening a 30 day public comment period.
Among the changes is that schools would be given five year grants instead of the three years they now receive. Also, rural schools would be given new flexibility over intervention options and all schools would be allowed to pursue an “evidence-based, whole-school reform strategy” with a partner experienced in school turnaround.
The new family engagement policy, which echoes school spending policies introduced in California last year, requires states to consider how a school district will “meaningfully engage families and the community in the implementation of the intervention on an ongoing basis” before approving a SIG application.
Under Gov. Jerry Brown, local educational agencies in California are now required to engage in “meaningful, two-way” consultation with parents over spending decisions that impact Feds add parent engagement condition to new SIG money :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:
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Using standardized tests as the sole measure of educational performance is a bit like using a measuring tape to calculate weight. You’ll get a number, all right, but it will have limited meaning.