Feds spent $7 billion to fix failing schools, with mixed results
A national program that pumped a record $7 billion into failing schools — and became one of U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s signature policies — has yielded mixed results, according to a new federal analysis released Thursday.
Students in about two-thirds of the schools studied posted gains on math and reading tests, but one-third showed no improvements or even slid backwards.
Schools that participated in the program the longest showed the strongest improvements in math and reading. The average high school graduation rate also increased for schools that received School Improvement Grants (SIG).
But the government analysis is incomplete.
Almost 1,400 schools received grants from 2010 to 2013, but the report does not include data from about half of those schools. Federal officials blamed the gap on several factors, including the fact that some states switched to new tests during the study period, making it impossible to compare student test scores over time. Meanwhile, the analysis does not include performance statistics from the two most recent school years.
“Here we are, five years into the program, and it’s hard to look at it as a success,” said Andy Smarick, a former federal education official and a partner at the consulting firm Bellwether Education Partners.
When Duncan announced the investment, “he was talking about transformational change,” Smarick said. “We’re just not getting evidence that that’s what the program produced.”
The head of a major teachers union was more blunt. SIG was a “terrible investment,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, adding that she believes federal dollars would be better spent on community schools and career and technical education programs.
Under the SIG program, schools could receive up to $2 million annually for three years.
The Education Department also on Thursday released a report on the Obama administration’s $4 billion Race to the Top competitive grant program, Feds spent $7 billion to fix failing schools, with mixed results - The Washington Post:
