The Department of Education recently announced that 9 states—Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Dakota and Pennsylvania—were awarded School Improvement Grant (SIG) awards to help turn around consistently underperforming schools. SIG awards ranged in amounts from $1.2 million for North Dakota to $23.6 million for Illinois. 

NAESP has long been a critic of SIG, since schools applying for the funding must prescribe to one of four rigid school turnaround models devised under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, commonly known as the Stimulus Bill). All require the firing of the principal as the first step in turning around a school. NAESP also believes SIG does not give enough credence to the capacity of smaller or rural school districts. 

Education Week recently wrote about the early performance results of schools awarded SIG money in different states and the effects the programs is having on student achievement.