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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 12, 2016
For More Information Contact:

JP O'Hare

(518) 474-1201

Press@nysed.gov

www.nysed.gov

 

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State Education Department Awards $95 Million in School Improvement Grants

Grants to Help Priority Schools Improve Outcomes for Students and Achieve 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 NYSED-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 http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/ 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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