SIG Intervention Models

School Improvement Grants under section 1003(g) of the ESEA are used to improve student achievement in Title I schools identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring so as to enable those schools to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) and exit improvement status. In their application to the U.S. Department of Education, the state education agencies (SEAs) developed a definition of persistently lowest-achieving (PLA) schools and identified schools matching that definition.

The districts with identified schools are responsible for selecting and implementing one of four intervention models that have the greatest potential to dramatically improve outcomes for students attending the school. The four intervention models are restart, school closure, transformation, and turnaround.

Each intervention model and associated resources can be found by clicking on the tabs above.


Handbook on Effective Implementation of School Improvement Grants The Center on Innovation and Improvement with contributions from the Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center, Center on Instruction, National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, and National High School Center has released a handbook intended as an aid to the successful implementation of the School Improvement Grants (SIG) and help in achieving rapid improvement of schools that are persistently low-achieving. The Handbook is organized into two parts. Part I frames the purposes of the School Improvement Grants, provides guidance for SEAs to classify schools within performance strata, and identify the "persistently low achieving" schools, and offers a framework for diagnosing a school's performance and practice in order to target interventions and supports for rapid improvement. Part II itemizes more than 50 strategies relevant to the School Improvement Grants, connects the strategies with research, cites available resources; and offers action principles for the SEA, the LEA, and the school.
Handbook on Statewide Systems of Support The purposes of this Handbook are to survey the research related to statewide systems of support, to present the experience and insights of educational leaders in how such support can best be conducted, and to derive actionable principles for improving schools. It is intended for use not only by the staff of the U.S. Department of Education-sponsored Regional Centers that serve state department staff, but also by the staff of school districts and schools.
Leading Indicators of School Turnarounds: How to Know When Dramatic Change is on Track University of Virginia's Darden/Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education released a report summarizing the research and experience from other settings in which leaders have long relied on leading indicators to enhance the likelihood of success. From these lessons, the authors identify key principles and processes to guide the design and use of leading indicators in education. They also present a starting list of leading indicators and a proposed monitoring timetable for district, state, and other education leaders to use in turnaround schools.
ResourceCheck Education Resource Strategies has updated their online tool designed to help districts identify/align the resources needed to support transformational strategies. "This web-based tool is designed to help you dive into the transformational strategies that lead to better resource use. ResourceCheck asks you a series of questions, and then tallies and analyzes your responses to show how close you are to best practices and where you need improvement. ResourceCheck also links to resources to help you take action."
School Restructuring What Works When: A Guide for Education Leaders Updated in 2009, this guide from the Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement , reflects the best education and cross industry research on restructuring for chronically struggling schools. That research was compiled by Public Impact, an education policy and management consulting firm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
The District Turnaround Office: A Comprehensive Support Structure for Struggling Schools Mass Insight's School Turnaround Group recently released a publication providing districts with a fundamentally different organizational structure through which to execute school turnaround. The District Turnaround Office (DTO) is a new internal unit within a Local Education Agency (LEA) that manages and coordinates all district turnaround efforts. The DTO streamlines support from multiple offices, rather than creating additional bureaucracy, and ensures that low-performing schools are prioritized not only in talk but in action. This publication includes 1) an explanation of the DTO structure and functions, 2) detailed examples of DTO-like structures in five urban districts, and 3) key findings to inform this work in other districts.

NWCC is part of a nationwide network of 15 regional technical assistance centers established by the U.S. Department of Education. The Comprehensive Centers were created to deliver high-quality technical assistance, information, and resources to state education agencies (SEAs). Chartered in the Pacific Northwest in 1966 as Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Education Northwest now conducts more than 200 projects annually, working with schools, districts, and communities on evidence-based solutions to the challenges they face.

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SIG Intervention Models