FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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State Education Department Awards $95 Million in School Improvement Grants
Grants to Help Priority Schools Improve Outcomes for Students andAchieve Good Academic Standing
The State Education Department awarded $95 million in School Improvement Grants to 39 Priority Schools across the state, Commissioner MaryEllen Elia announced today. The federal funding will allow these Priority Schools to implement whole-school change models with the goal of improving outcomes for students by achieving dramatic school-level achievement gains so that the school is in good academic standing within three years.
"School Improvement Grants are a welcome investment in some of our most challenged schools,” Board of Regents Chancellor Betty A. Rosa said. "Turnaround can only happen when schools receive sufficient support and resources. These grants will help our struggling schools to engage in transformative practices that have the potential to dramatically improve educational outcomes for our children.”
“Every student in every school across New York must have the opportunity to succeed and to do that we need to help our struggling schools improve,” Commissioner Elia said. “This grant program provides these schools with the chance to effect change and implement strategies that will give their students the best shot at future success.”
The state’s persistently lowest-achieving schools are identified as Priority Schools. These schools can use the grant funding to implement one of six federally designated or state-determined models:
- Turnaround: Replace the principal and at least half the staff as part of the process of phasing out and replacing the school with a new school(s), or completely redesigning the school.
- Restart: Convert the school to a charter school under a charter management organization, replace the school with a new charter school that will serve the students who would have attended the public school, or contract with an Educational Management Organization, such as a local Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), institution of higher education, or other non-profit partner organization as identified in Education Law 211-e, to govern and manage the Priority School and its implementation of the SIG plan.
- Transformation: Replace the principal, but without the requirement to replace at least half the staff. Rather, the implementation of approved Annual Professional Performance Review plans would serve as the basis for rewarding effective teachers and removing ineffective teachers after ample professional development opportunities.
- Innovation Framework: Select one of three 鶹-proposed design pathways: College and Career Readiness School Design, Family and Community School Design, or Individualized Learning School Design, and partner specifically with an Educational Partnership Organization (EPO) to jointly launch a whole-school redesign.
- Evidence-based: Implement, in partnership with a strategy developer, an evidence-based whole-school reform strategy that meets United States Department of Education (USDE) What Works evidence standards.
- Early Learning Intervention: Replace the principal and offer full-day kindergarten, establish or expand a high-quality preschool program, and implement an approved APPR plan that would serve as a rigorous evaluation and support system.
In certain cases the school district, in collaboration with the local community, may conclude the best option for its students is to close the existing school and transfer students to existing higher achieving options within the district.
For applications proposing to implement a model other than closure, the full project period for this grant is five years.Continuation funding after each period of the project is contingent upon progress toward meeting achievement goals, leading indicators, fidelity of implementation of required model actions, and maintenance of all grant requirements.
The final awards are subject to the review and approval of the State Comptroller. The following is a list of the schools receiving School Improvement Grant awards.
Rest of State Awards |
Amount |
Model Selected |
Buffalo-#18 Dr. Antonio Pantoja Community School of Excellence |
$2,500,000 |
Transformation |
Binghamton-East MS |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework- Family and Community |
Buffalo-#131 Academy Programs |
$2,500,000 |
Transformation |
Buffalo-#205 Riverside High School |
$2,500,000 |
Turnaround |
Buffalo-#32 Bennett Park Montessori |
$2,500,000 |
Transformation |
Buffalo-#61 Arthur O. Eve School of Distinction |
$2,500,000 |
Early Learning Intervention |
Buffalo-#82 Early Childhood Center |
$2,500,000 |
Early Learning Intervention |
Buffalo-#82#200 Bennett High School (closure) |
$200,000 |
Closure |
East Ramapo-Chestnut Ridge MS |
$2,497,895 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
Mount Vernon City School District Edward Williams |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Family and Community |
Rochester City SD/IATHS |
$2,486,480 |
Evidence Based |
Rochester City SD/School 10 |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
Rochester City SD/School 19 |
$2,500,000 |
Restart |
Rochester City SD/School 41 |
$2,500,000 |
Transformation |
Syracuse City School District ‑ Meachem Elementary School |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Individualized Learning |
Syracuse CSD - McKinley‑Brighton Elementary School |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Individualized Learning |
Utica City School District- Kernan ES |
$2,500,000 |
Transformation |
Yonkers-Cross Hill Academy |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Family and Community |
Total Rest of State Awards |
$42,684,375 |
|
NYCDoE Awards |
Amount |
Model Selected |
NYC-Academy of Public Relations |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-Bronx Guild |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-Bronx High School for Writing and Communication Arts |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-Bronx Regional High School |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-Brooklyn Environmental Exploration School (BEES) |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-East Fordham Academy for the Arts |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Family and Community |
NYC-East New York Middle School of Excellence |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Family and Community |
NYC-Felisa Rincon de Gautier Institute for Law and Public Policy |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Family and Community |
NYC-Frederick Douglass Academy VI High School |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-KAPPA IV |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-M.S. 390 |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-New Heights Middle School |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Family and Community |
NYC-P.S. 151 Lyndon B. Johnson |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-P.S. 183 Dr. Richard R. Green |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-P.S./M.S. 029 Melrose School |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-P.S./M.S. 031 The William Lloyd Garrison |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-College/Career |
NYC-Queens Satellite High School for Opportunity |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Family and Community |
NYC-The Fresh Creek School |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Family and Community |
NYC-The Forward School |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Family and Community |
NYC-The Urban Assembly Unison School |
$2,500,000 |
Innovation and Reform Framework-Family and Community |
Total NYC Dept. of Education Awards |
$52,500,000 |
|
Grant Total |
$95,184,375 |
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