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Tier 1 Education: Review Participant Training

January 2014

2014 AmeriCorps External Reviewer Training

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Content

The Charge: Turnaround School Improvement Grants (SIG)

Overview Models Guidelines

This Opportunity The Need The Goals

Part 1: The Charge

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The U.S. ranks 16th in the world in college attainment

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Russia

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Norway

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United

King

dom

Austra

lia

Denm

ark

Luxe

mbo

urg

Franc

eIs

rael

Belgium

Sweden

United

Sta

tes

Nethe

rland

s

Switzer

land

Finlan

dSpa

in

Eston

ia

Icela

nd

Poland

Chile

Sloven

ia

Greec

e

Germ

any

Hunga

ry

63

56 56 55

48 47 4745 45 45 44 43 43 42 42 41 40 40 39 38

37 36 35 35

30 29

26 25

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Percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds who completed an associate's or higher degree (2009)

“By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.” – President Obama, February 2009

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Fewer than 15% of high schools produce half of the nation’s 1.2 million dropouts.

“It’s time for all of us, no matter what our backgrounds, to come together and solve this epidemic. Stemming the tide of dropouts will require turning around our low-performing schools. Just 2,000 high schools in cities like Detroit, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia produce over 50% of America’s dropouts…Let us all make turning around our schools our collective responsibility as Americans.”

- President Obama, March 2009

Source: Robert Balfanz and Nettie Legters, Locating the Dropout Crisis (2004)

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Part 2: SIG Overview

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Guiding Principles

Students who attend a State’s persistently lowest-achieving schools deserve better options and can’t afford to wait

Not quantity, but quality Need to build capacity and supports at all

levels Not a one-year activity

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Outcomes

Increased student achievement Increased graduation rates

Redesigned SIG

Four rigorous intervention models

States required to competitively award

grants to districts

Elements of Reform

Effective leaders and teachers

Supportive and safe school environment

Operational flexibilities and

capacity building

Strong, aligned, and responsive

instruction

Resources

Historic investment – over $4.5B since

2009

Up to $2M per school

The redesigned SIG program requires rigorous interventions and dramatically increases resources for the lowest-performing schools

Increased time for teaching and

collaboration

Family and community engagement

Distribution of SIG Funds

U.S. Department of Education (ED) to State educational agencies (SEAs): Formula grants based on each State’s share of

funds under Title I, Parts A, C, and D SEAs to local educational agencies (LEAs):

Competitive grants LEAs to schools: $50,000 - $2M per school

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LEA Responsibilities

Eligible Schools Applies to serve all or subset of eligible schools in the LEA

Review Criteria Develops a needs assessment to determine which of the four required intervention models fits best with the needs of each Tier I, Tier II or Priority school

4 models Applies to implement one of the four required intervention models in eligible Tier I, Tier II or Priority schools. LEA selects model after an analysis of local data, resources, and capacity.

Prioritization Must serve Tier I schools it has the capacity to serve. May not apply to serve any Tier III school if it has not served at least one of its Tier I or II schools

ORMust serve Priority schools it has capacity to serve that apply for and are awarded SIG funding

Budget Submits three-year budget for each school it applies to serve ($50K-$2M per year)

Goals Proposes achievement goals for each Tier I, II, and III or Priority school

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Four SIG School Intervention Models

Transformation Turnaround

Restart Closure

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Transformation Model Overview

Teachers and Leaders

• Replace principal• Implement new

evaluation system• Developed with

staff• Uses student

growth as a significant factor

• Identify and reward staff who are increasing student outcomes; support and then remove those who are not

• Implement strategies to recruit, place, and retain staff

Instructional and Support Strategies

• Select and implement an instructional model based on student needs

• Provide job-embedded professional development designed to build capacity and support staff

• Ensure continuous use of data to inform and differentiate instruction

Time and Support

• Provide increased learning time• Staff and students

• Provide ongoing mechanism for community and family engagement

• Partner to provide social-emotional and community-oriented services and supports

Governance

• Provide sufficient operating flexibility to implement reform

• Ensure ongoing technical assistance

Turnaround Model Overview

Teachers and Leaders

• Replace principal• Use locally

adopted “turnaround” competencies to review and select staff for school (rehire no more than 50% of existing staff)

• Implement strategies to recruit, place, and retain staff

Instructional and Support Strategies

• Select and implement an instructional model based on student needs

• Provide job-embedded PD designed to build capacity and support staff

• Ensure continuous use of data to inform and differentiate instruction

Time and Support

• Provide increased learning time• Staff and

students• Social-emotional

and community- oriented services and supports

Governance

• New governance structure

• Grant operating flexibility to school leader

May also implement any of the required or permissible strategies under the Transformation Model

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Restart Model Overview

A restart model must enroll, within the grades it serves, any former student who wishes to attend the school.

A rigorous review process could take such things into consideration as an applicant’s team, track record, instructional program, model’s theory of action, sustainability.

As part of this model, the SEA must review the process the LEA will use/has used to select the partner

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Part 3: This Opportunity

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The Need for Tier 1 Education

Throughout the early stages of SIG implementation, States and districts have repeatedly expressed, or demonstrated through department monitoring, a need for capacity building in five primary areas: Addressing specific school-type challenges (especially small/rural schools

and middle schools); Addressing specific intervention challenges (especially increased learning

time, turnaround leadership, students’ nonacademic needs, and community/family engagement);

Building and making transparent turnaround data, knowledge, and evidence;

Sustaining effective interventions in successful turnaround schools; Developing a comprehensive turnaround approach for schools

implementing SIG interventions, turnaround principles under Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility, and reform strategies through Race-to-the-Top.

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The Goals for Tier 1 Education

To leverage AmeriCorps’s existing national service infrastructure and national and community partnerships to concentrate AmeriCorps members in schools undertaking turnaround efforts promoted by ED through SIG and/or ESEA flexibility;

To scale up existing AmeriCorps efforts in turnaround schools; To introduce AmeriCorps members to schools and areas that have

difficulty gaining access to AmeriCorps members; To provide resources to address implementation challenges relating

to increased learning time and social-emotional supports; and To inspire a wide range of local and national partners, including

philanthropic organizations, to take on the challenge of school turnaround.

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Evidence for Aligned and Rigorous Interventions

In addition to exclusively funding turnaround interventions in low-performing schools, Tier 1 Education AmeriCorps grantees must implement interventions that have at least a preliminary evidence basis.

Tier 1 Education AmeriCorps grantees will serve exclusively in low-performing schools where their efforts are needed most, and where there is already a turnaround plan in place through a state’s implementation of its ESEA flexibility plan or a SIG.

Applicants must submit a letter of commitment signed by district and school leaders. Furthermore, applicants must demonstrate how the proposed intervention is aligned with existing district and school turnaround plans.

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Six Strategies of Focus in the Notice

AmeriCorps members in these schools will work to: Provide ongoing mechanisms for family and community engagement; Establish a school culture and environment that improve school safety,

attendance, and discipline and address other non-academic factors that impact student achievement, such as students’ social, emotional, and health needs;

Accelerate students’ acquisition of reading and mathematics knowledge and skills;

Increase graduation rates through strategies such as early warning systems, credit-recovery programs, and re-engagement strategies;

Increase college enrollment rates through college preparation counseling to include completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and college applications, and educating students and their families on financial literacy for college; or

Support school implementation of increased learning time.

Questions?

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Please contact PeerReviewers@cns.gov using the subject line:

Tier 1 Education Orientation