School Improvement Grants report

(or, ooh, look! a map!)
The American Institutes for Research has a report out this week (that's the summary; full report here) on the recipients of the federal School Improvement Grants. It looks at the characteristics of the schools and the choices they have made on how they're "turning around." The Hechinger Report gives this summary:

Only 2 percent of schools that received SIG money were shut down. Four percent were “restarted” as charter schools, 20 percent agreed to fire their principal and at least half of their teachers, and 74 percent went with the less dramatic “transformation” model, which includes firing the principal and other interventions such as extending the school day. And, confirming a previous analysis here at Hechinger, high schools are disproportionately represented among schools that won federal money for reform. Although 20 percent of schools in United States are high schools, and only 19 percent of schools eligible for SIG grants are high schools, 40 percent of schools actually awarded SIG money are high schools.

Hechinger also notes that Massachusetts was disproportionately represented, perhaps due to what Hechinger calls our "tough accountability system."
If you'd like an overview of where the schools are, what they are, and what choices they've made, the Quick and the Ed have an interactive map on their site.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You may remember that Worcester did not make the deadlines to get our applications in for the Level 4 schools early; that is why Worcester is not included on this list. We'll be on the next one.