PLA

Persistently Lowest-Achieving Schools

Persistently Lowest-Achieving schools (PLAs) are eligible for federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) funding, New York is required to identify as persistently lowest-achieving the bottom five percent of Title I schools in Improvement, Corrective Action or Restructuring status that have the lowest combined performance on state's English language arts (ELA) and mathematics tests and that have failed to demonstrate progress on these assessments. New York must also identify on these same measures its lowest performing five middle and high schools that are eligible for, but do not receive, Title I funds. New York's approved SIG application requires New York to identify those schools that have had graduation rates below 60 percent for each of the past three years. A school that is identified as persistently lowest-achieving and is placed under registration review must implement one of four United States Department of Education (USDE) intervention models: turnaround, restart, closure, or transformation.

In April 2010, New York was awarded a $308 million Title I School Improvement Grant from USDE that the State Education Department can use to award grants to districts that implement one of the four federal intervention models in their PLA schools. Districts with identified schools can apply to NYSED for School Improvement Grants for up to $2 million per year, per school, for up to three years to support model implementation.

To read more, see the Commissioner's Announcement below.

Announcements:

Last Updated: March 6, 2012