States Vary Widely in How They Target Federal Title I School Improvement Grants, According to Report Offering the First Examination of the Program

2013 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Title I ◽  
Title I School ◽  
School Improvement Grants

Teacher Migration: Extension and Application of the Population Ecology Model to Explore Teacher Transfers in a Reform Environment

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 459-485
Author(s):  
Craig Hochbein ◽  
Bradley Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
School District ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Title I ◽  
Population Ecology ◽  
Teacher Selection ◽  
Replacement Policy ◽  
School Improvement Grant ◽  
Title I School ◽  
Teacher Migration ◽  
And Migration

This article assesses the association between the Title I School Improvement Grant (SIG) program’s personnel replacement policy and teacher employment patterns within an urban school district. Hannan and Freeman’s population ecology model allowed the authors to consider schools within districts as individual organizations nested within a larger organization. The data are drawn from employment records of 2,470 teachers who worked in 19 high schools in a single school district from 2006 to 2011. The personnel replacement policy of the Title I SIG program appears to have reinforced, and in some cases intensified, existing patterns of teacher selection, retention, and migration.

scholarly journals Montessori Education and a Neighborhood School

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Mary D Burbank ◽  
Melissa M. Goldsmith ◽  
Jennifer Spikner ◽  
Koeun Park
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Title I ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Title I School ◽  
Underserved Students ◽  
Montessori Education ◽  
Neighborhood School ◽  
Grade 3 ◽  
Project Data ◽  
The Impact

Project SYNC (Systems, Yoked through Nuanced Collaboration) details perspectives of a community of stakeholders committed to the enhancement of early childhood (i.e., prekindergarten through grade 3) education. Although there is a growing number of public-school programs informed by the Montessori philosophy, Montessori educational experiences often take place within affluent communities. SYNC aimed to enhance the prekindergarten through grade 3 educational experiences for traditionally underserved students by transforming two traditional early childhood classrooms to Montessori settings within a diverse, Title I school. Montessori pedagogy, curricula, and materials aligned with the school’s dedicated commitment to social justice. The study, one in a series, explored the impact of Montessori education on a neighborhood school community as evidenced through stakeholder opinions, project implementation, and teacher attitudes. Project data illustrate that a Montessori educational experience created learning opportunities that supported children from culturally and ethnically diverse communities in a traditional, Title I elementary school.

Funding Structures and State Capacity for School Improvement under the Every Student Succeeds Act: Case Studies of Five States

2021 ◽  
pp. e20210005
Author(s):  
Hailey Karcher ◽  
David S. Knight
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
School Districts ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Title I ◽  
Local Autonomy ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Improvement Strategies ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Every Student Succeeds Act

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, the federal government allocates 7% of Title I funds, about $1 billion per year, for school improvement. States have substantial autonomy in allocating these funds, including which schools are identified for federal school improvement, what improvement strategies are used, and whether external intermediaries are involved. A growing area of research explores the private, often for-profit school improvement industry, but few studies track the finance and policy structures that funnel public funds to external K–12 intermediaries. In this study, we draw on document analysis and interview data to explore school improvement practices and finance policies in five case study states. We find that states use varied methods for identifying schools for improvement, and also vary in the extent to which they provide local autonomy to school districts. Some states, such as Texas and Tennessee, incentivize schools to adopt particular strategies or encourage partnering with an external intermediary. Texas provides a list of vetted external intermediaries they expect districts to work with (and support financially). Other states, such as California and New York, provide more state-led school improvement strategies through regional offices and give districts greater local autonomy. Findings point to possible benefits of local autonomy, while highlighting potential challenges associated with unregulated market-based reforms in education.

The Longitudinal Effects of School Improvement Grants

2021 ◽  
pp. 016237372110124
Author(s):  
Min Sun ◽  
Alec I. Kennedy ◽  
Susanna Loeb
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
English Language ◽  
High School Graduation Rates ◽  
Low Socioeconomic ◽  
School Improvement Grants ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
State Test ◽  
Longitudinal Effects

School Improvement Grants (SIGs) exemplify a capacity-building investment to spur sustainable changes in America’s persistently lowest-performing schools and stimulate the economy. This study examines both short- and longer-term effects of the first two cohorts of SIG schools from four locations across the country. Dynamic difference-in-differences models show that SIGs’ effects on achievement in Grades 3 to 8, as measured by state test scores in math and English language arts, gradually increased over the three reform years and were largely sustained for 3 or 4 years afterward. Evidence on high school graduation rates, though less robust, also suggests SIGs had positive effects. SIGs’ effects on students of color and low-socioeconomic-status students were similar to or significantly larger than the overall effects.

Teaching as Literacy

2013 ◽  
pp. 118-133
Author(s):  
Krista Steinke ◽  
Valerie C. Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Title I ◽  
Teacher Attrition ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Title I Schools ◽  
High Poverty ◽  
Title I School ◽  
Pedagogy Of The Oppressed

This chapter is a qualitative meta-analysis that discusses the growing trend of teacher attrition in Title I schools. Recent literature on teacher attrition was reviewed and analyzed in combination with literacy theories. This study describes teaching as a form of literacy that the teacher must learn and is based primarily on Gee’s (1989) ideas of discourse acquisition, Freire’s (1993) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and Delpit’s (1995) The Politics of Teaching a Literate Discourse. The researchers explain, through the lens of literacy theories, how viewing teaching as a form of literacy can help us to understand the problem of attrition. Analyzing the problems faced by these teachers through these theories can provide individuals in the field of education with the means for understanding the challenges that often prevent well-meaning and talented teachers from becoming successful in the high-poverty setting. This study has the potential to bring to light the problem of teacher attrition in Title I schools throughout the nation and promote improvements in teacher education to better prepare upcoming teachers for the challenges that they will face in the Title I school.

scholarly journals School Turnaround: A Rural Reflection of Reform on the Reservation and Lessons for Implementation

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian M. Mette ◽  
Jason Stanoch
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Rural School ◽  
School Turnaround ◽  
District Leaders ◽  
Native American Students ◽  
School Improvement Grants ◽  
American Students ◽  
Yellow Pine

Rural communities traditionally enjoy an intimate relationship between stakeholders and the local school system.  While preliminary research exists to suggest rural school turnaround might be more likely to occur when a strong communal connection exists (Mette, 2014), little is known about rural school turnaround efforts serving predominantly Native American students.  This article reports findings of a School Improvement Grants (SIG) funded effort to digitize curriculum and deliver instruction through the use of tablets in Yellow Pine, a school district on a Native American reservation in a rural, Upper Midwestern state.  Data were collected through interviews with school and district leaders, as well as through teacher focus groups.  Findings highlight the failure to engage a historically disenfranchised community from the beginning of the improvement process, particularly the lack of involvement of students, parents, and teachers, which in turn led to little impact on student achievement.

“Everybody Knows Everybody”: Adolescents’ Perceptions of What Helps Them Succeed in a Rural Title I School

2021 ◽  
pp. 074355842110438
Author(s):  
Erin M. West ◽  
Staci M. Zolkoski ◽  
Justin R. Lockhart ◽  
Jessica M. Holm ◽  
Josh Tremont
Keyword(s):  
Title I ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
School Size ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Parental Consent ◽  
Title I School ◽  
Black African ◽  
Study Participants

The current study explored adolescents’ perceptions of what contributes to their experiences of success in a rural Title I school through interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Participants included adolescents who were enrolled at a rural Title I Middle/High School in the southern United States. The single campus school district serves approximately 185 students from Prekindergarten to grade 12. Approximately, 73% of the students are identified as At-Risk, 88% of the students are economically disadvantaged, and 100% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Ten students from this school, with assent and parental consent, participated in the current study. Participants’ ages ranged from 13 to 18, and the students represented different genders (seven males, three females) and various racial and ethnic backgrounds (three Black/African American, four Latinx, two White, and one Biracial). Results from the current study suggest low-income adolescents in a rural Title I school perceived (a) school size, (b) family support, and (c) their own internal drive to succeed as contributing to their success at school. These themes, their corresponding subthemes, and representative participant statements are included. Implications for school administrators, teachers, and counselors along with directions for future research are discussed.

Mi Familia

2018 ◽  
pp. 169-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard L. Smith ◽  
Kalpana Mukunda Iyengar
Keyword(s):  
Title I ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Title I School ◽  
Writing Assignments ◽  
Cultural Wealth ◽  
Predominantly Hispanic ◽  
Children's Writing ◽  
Student Values ◽  
Affective Impact

This chapter discusses the results of a writing activity during Family Literacy Night at a predominantly Hispanic, Title I school in the Southwest. This study, based on Socio-Cultural Theory (Moll, 2013), demonstrates the efficacy of asset-based approaches for instruction and assessment versus more traditional deficit models of minority education. As an analytic, the researchers applied the six Capitals from the Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) model (Yosso, 2005) to the children's writing samples. This framework revealed a variety of strengths common to Latino and bilingual households including the metalinguistic skill of translanguaging. Data was processed through Holistic Content Analysis (Lieblich, 2005) followed by thematic analysis (Falk & Blumenreich, 2005) supported by CCW. Results underscore the importance of out-of-school literacies and their affective impact on children from underserved communities. Moreover, results argue for more home- and community-based writing assignments to reveal student values, desires, and emotions, which encourage the joy of writing.

Resource- and Approach-Driven Multidimensional Change: Three-Year Effects of School Improvement Grants

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Sun ◽  
Emily K. Penner ◽  
Susanna Loeb
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Effective Teachers ◽  
Modest Improvement ◽  
School Improvement Grants ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Professional Capacity

Hoping to spur dramatic school turnaround, the federal government channeled resources to the country’s lowest-performing schools through School Improvement Grants (SIG). However, prior research on SIG effectiveness is limited and focuses primarily on student achievement. This study uses a difference-in-differences strategy to estimate program impacts on multiple dimensions across the 3-year duration of the SIG award in one urban school district. Following 2 years of modest improvement, we find pronounced, positive effects of SIG interventions on student achievement in Year 3, consistent with prior literature indicating that improvements from comprehensive school turnarounds emerge gradually. We also identify improvements indicating the process through which change occurred, including reduced unexcused absences, increased family preference for SIG schools, improved retention of effective teachers, and greater development of teacher professional capacity.

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