School Improvement Grants 1003(g)
School Improvement Grants 1003(g)
Announcement of 1003(g) School Improvement Grant (SIG) Round 2 Funding Opportunity: RFP Number: TA-13
School Improvement Grants (SIG) under section 1003(g) of the ESEA are used to improve student achievement in Title I schools identified as Priority Schools. These grants are targeted to support implementation of the fundamental changes needed to turn around some of New York's lowest-achieving schools.
Priority will be given to LEAs that demonstrate through their application the strongest commitment and capacity to fully implement the four intervention models - turnaround, restart, school closure, and transformation - and raise student achievement in each priority school.
The New York State Education Department will provide LEAs with SIG grants under 1003(g) to facilitate implementation of one of the following four school intervention models in Tier I and Tier II schools:
- Turnaround: Phase out and replace the school with a new school(s) or completely redesign the school, including replacing the principal and at least half the staff.
- Restart Model: Either convert a school to a charter school or replace a public school with a new charter school that will serve the students who would have attended the public school. Under certain circumstances, districts may also enter into contracts with the City University of New York or the State University of New York for them to manage public schools.
- Transformation: Similar to the turnaround model, but with a requirement for an evaluation of staff effectiveness developed by the LEA in collaboration with teachers and principals that takes into account data on student growth, multiple observation-based assessments, and portfolios of professional activities. Evaluations would serve as the basis for rewarding effective teachers and removing ineffective teachers after ample professional development opportunities. A school that opts for a transformation model does not close but rather remains identified as persistently lowest-achieving until it demonstrates improved academic results.
- School closure: Close the school and enroll the students who attended the school in higher achieving schools in the LEA.
1003(g) School Improvement Grant (SIG) Priority Schools List Waiver: notice of and opportunity to comment on proposed waiver to be requested:
On May 29, 2012, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) received approval from the United States Department of Education (USDE) for its Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) flexibility waiver request. The key changes that the waiver permits align with the Regents Reform Agenda and allow the State to implement its next generation accountability system. With this approved flexibility waiver, NYSED has discontinued identifying schools for improvement, corrective action, and restructuring in Tiers I, II, and III, and instead identifies the states lowest-achieving schools as Priority Schools. In New York State a Priority School is either: a) among the lowest-achieving five percent of Title I schools in New York State; b) a Title I participating or Title I eligible high school with a graduation rate less than 60 percent over a number of years; or c) a Tier I or II SIG school.
For the purposes of eligibility for 1003(g) SIG funding, the Department is submitting a waiver request to the USDE that enables NYSED to replace its lists of Tier I, II, and III schools with its list of Priority Schools under ESEA flexibility, and waive the school eligibility requirements in Section 1.A.1 of SIG final requirements. This will enable Priority Schools to compete in the FY 2012 1003(g) SIG competition. In submitting this waiver request, NYSED assures USDE that its Priority School definition provides an acceptable alternative methodology for identifying the state's lowest-achieving schools and thus is an appropriate replacement for the eligibility requirements and definition of PLA schools in the SIG final requirements.
If you have comments on this proposed waiver, they may be submitted via email to turnaround@mail.nysed.gov no later than April 10, 2013.
USDE Application for School Improvement Grant (1003g) Awards Competition 2013:
This application is used by the Department to access United States Department of Education (USDE) SIG funding for New York State LEAs. The application and crosswalk document (listed below) will be submitted to USDE, and contain the newly redesigned SIG RFP which Focus Districts with Priority Schools used in the most recent SIG competition. If you would like to share your comments or suggestions for how to revise or refine this application to improve future SIG competitions, please email them to: turnaround@mail.nysed.gov.2012 NYSED USDE SIG (1003g) Application Draft 
(1.12KB)
2012 Crosswalk USDE SIG Competition and NYSED SIG RFP for LEAs Draft (529KB)