Short-Term Impact of $3 Billion School Improvement Grants: Zilch; Long-Term Impact: TBD

THE Journal: A hefty study commissioned by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and written by researchers at Mathematica has examined the impact of School Improvement Grants (SIGs) and found that implementing a SIG-funded model "had no impact on math or reading test scores, high school graduation or college enrollment."

As "School Improvement Grants: Implementation and Effectiveness" stated, SIGs were a signature $3 billion program delivered during the Obama administration as part of its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The idea was to award grants to states that agreed to implement one of four intervention models — transformation, turnaround, restart or closure — in their lowest-performing schools. Each model "prescribed specific practices" that were designed to improve student learning, including outcomes for high-need students.

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