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• Tier I
• Tier II
• PLAS - Title I School Improvement Grants (SIG)
• SIG Awards Summary
• SIG Teacher and Principal Evaluation Systems - Waiver
• SIG Applications

All states were asked to identify their persistently lowest-achieving schools (PLAS) in order to receive funding under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act's State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, Phase II. The Iowa Department of Education has identified schools in our state that are persistently lowest-achieving and they are listed below.

The purpose of this identification is to help bring resources to these schools so they may initiate or enhance efforts to improve student academic success.

The potential resources they may be able access include funding under the No Child Left Behind Title 1 School Improvement Grant.

 Notification of Proposed Waivers - January 2013

Tiers/Categories

Below are the Tiers (or categories) under which the persistently lowest-achieving schools were identified, the definition for each Tier, and the list of schools.

Tier I

Tier II

PLAS - Title I School Improvement Grants (SIG)

School districts able to apply for SIG funding must be a state-identified Tier I or II "persistently lowest achieving school"(PLAS).

Iowa will receive $18,710,222 to allocate through the School Improvement Grants (SIG) program for approved applications over a three year period starting this Fall with the 2010-2011 school year. The purpose of this program is to help turn around schools identified as persistently lowest achieving. When school district applies on behalf of its PLAS school(s), it must indicate that it will implement one of the following four federal intervention models:

• Turnaround Model: Replace the principal, screen existing school staff, and rehire no more than half the teachers; adopt a new governance structure; and improve the school through curriculum reform, professional development, extending learning time, and other strategies.
• Restart Model: Convert a school or close it and re-open it as a charter school or under an education management organization.
  NOTE: Districts selecting the option to operate a charter school must complete the following steps:
  1. First - Demonstrate the support of at least 50% of the teachers employed at the school and 50% of the voting parents or guardians whose children are enrolled at the school.
  2. Second - Complete and submit the SIG Application to the Iowa Department of Education by May 21, 2010.
  3. Third - Complete the Iowa Application for Charter School Status and submit to the Iowa Department of Education by October 1, 2010.
• School Closure: Close the school and send the students to higher-achieving schools in the district.
• Transformation Model: Replace the principal and improve the school through comprehensive curriculum reform, professional development, extending learning time, and other strategies.

Title I School Improvement Grants Presentation (2011-01-07)

SIG Awards Summary

SIG Teacher and Principal Evaluation Systems - Waiver

The US Department of Education has granted Iowa a waiver for the principal and teacher evaluation requirement of School Improvement Grants (SIG).  This waiver applies only to evaluation systems for cohort 1 and cohort 2 SIG schools, as follows:

• A school that began implementing the transformation model during the 2010-2011 school year (cohort 1) and that was not able to complete the development and implementation of its evaluation systems during that year must develop them during the 2011-2012 school year and, at a minimum, pilot them for all teachers and principals no later than the 2012-2013 school year.  The piloted systems should produce valid and reliable data that may be used for decisions regarding, for example, retention, promotion, compensation, and rewards, no later than the 2013-2014 school year.  
• A school that began implementing the transformation model in the 2011-2012 school year (cohort 2) must develop its evaluation systems during that year, pilot them for all teachers and principals during the 2012-2013 school year, and use the system in the school, including for decisions regarding, for example, retention, promotion, compensation, and rewards, no later than the 2013-2014 school year.

The following schools were approved for this waiver in March of 2012:

Districts and schools approved for this waiver agree to the following:

• A district representative(s) will serve on the Iowa Department of Education Evaluation System Design Committee.  Benefits derived through participation in the following committee activities include:  
  • Opportunity to work in conjunction with the State initiative to develop a new teacher and principal evaluation system aligned with Iowa’ s Blueprint for Education and be on the ground floor to ensure parallel systems
  • Building, articulating, and sustaining teaching and leadership standards that become part of the culture of the school/district
  • Sharing elements of quality evaluation systems
  • Developing and implementing a cohesive evaluation system balancing teacher performance and student outcomes 
  • Reviewing examples of existing teaching and leadership standards: Iowa, InTASC, other states
  • Building knowledge base of other states’ work in this area
  • Opportunities to communicate with constituents statewide
  • Marketing a roll-out plan to help various audiences understand this work at state, AEA, district, school, and classroom levels
  • Opportunity to collaborate with stakeholders statewide around this work including Iowa State Education Association (ISEA), School Administrators of Iowa (SAI), Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB), Iowa Department of  Education, institutions of higher education, local education agencies, and individual teachers
  • Availability of Department staff to work directly with the districts to support their work in field testing the new system during the 2012-13 school year
• SIG schools will participate in evaluation of the new teacher and principal evaluation system including identification, collection, and analysis of data from field testing.
• SIG schools will adhere to the required timeline:
  • Field test the district’s new teacher and principal evaluation system in all SIG schools during the 2012-13 school year
  • Implement the new system in all SIG schools during the 2013-2014 school year
  • Ensure the implemented system is capable of being used for decisions regarding, for example, retention, promotion, compensation, and rewards
• SIG schools will participate in monitoring meetings including providing documentation regarding of accomplishments in this work to date and information about any barriers encountered.

SIG Applications

The following documents are copies of grant applications submitted to the Department for consideration of the federal school improvement funds.