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State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. today announced that seven school districts will receive more than $126 million in federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) awards to support turnaround and transformation efforts in thirty-four schools. King said that New York City will receive $74.2 million; the Buffalo City School District will receive nearly $13.1 million; the Rochester City School District will receive $22.5 million; the Utica City School District will receive $4 million; the Amsterdam City School District will receive nearly $3.9 million; the Schenectady City School District will receive $4.5 million; and the Albany City School District will receive $4.3 million. The school districts will use the grants to engage in dramatic and transformative whole-school change in their lowest performing schools.

"SIG grants are an important part of the Board of Regents Reform Agenda," New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said. "Too many students are struggling in low-performing schools, denied a realistic chance at success. SIG awards are targeted to help our most at-risk students so they will be prepared to graduate college and career ready. These grants are focused on improving chronically underperforming schools and raising achievement."

"Many English language learners, students with disabilities, and low-income students are in schools that need to change," King said. "SIG grants can help give those students the opportunity to attend schools that are changing what's happening in the classroom. Our goal is to prepare all students to graduate college and career ready. SIG grants are an important step toward giving students in struggling schools more opportunities to succeed."

SIG awards are targeted to support the implementation of a whole-school change model in Priority Schools (Priority schools are among the lowest performing schools in the state based on combined ELA and math performance). To receive funding, districts with identified schools must implement one of the following prescribed intervention models:

• Turnaround Model:ÌýReplace 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.
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• Restart Model:ÌýConvert the school to a charter school, 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 Partner Organization (EPO), 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.
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• Transformation Model:ÌýRequires replacement of the principal, but without the requirement to replace at least half the staff. Rather, the implementation of approved Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) plans would serve as the basis for rewarding effective teachers and removing ineffective teachers after ample professional development opportunities.
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• School Closure:ÌýClose the school and enroll the students in higher achieving schools in the district.

For example, the Rochester City School District will extend learning time in each of its Transformation Schools. The Albany City School District will adopt a full service neighborhood school model with after-school programming for students and families at the Philip J. Schuyler Achievement Academy. New York City will provide job-embedded, authentic professional development for teachers as well as social service, extracurricular arts and sports enrichment programs through partnerships at PS 123 Mahalia Jackson.

Of the forty-one eligible applications received, thirty-four schools are approved to receive SIG awards for the September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2016 project period. This second round of the 2013 SIG RFP competition resulted in SIG awards totaling $126,516,610. The RFP is posted atÌý. A summary of the district awards is attached. The application process will be forwarded to the Office of the State Comptroller for review and approval.

SIG aligns with the New York's Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) waiver application that the U.S. Department of Education approved on May 29, 2012 (see).