A majority of urban district officials say the School Improvement Grant program will make a difference in the long run for schools that are struggling the most, according to a report by the Council of the Great City 69´«Ã½, an organization that represents 65 of the nation’s largest school districts.
But the report also notes that the SIG program, which received $3 billion under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help states turn around their lowest-performing schools, has not come without challenges for states, including a tight timeline for getting new and complicated reforms off the ground.
It says states and districts have also had a tough time finding and training good teachers and principals to work in some of the nation’s most challenging schools.