‘Priority’ schools to get aid

Arkansas is one of seven states that will receive a portion of $43.4 million to continue efforts to “turn around” low-performing schools, the U.S. Education Department announced Monday.

Arkansas will receive $5,015,453 in the latest round of federal School Improvement Grant program funding.

Arkansas and Kentucky have the authority to award grants to schools that have not previously received them.

Bobby Lester, federal programs director for the Arkansas Department of Education, said Monday that eligible Arkansas schools will be invited in January to submit applications for the competitive grants. Recipients will be notified in the spring of their selection.Eligible schools are those that have been identified by the state as being “priority” schools because of chronically low performance on state Benchmark and End-of-Course exams.

Past recipients of the three-year federal improvement grants include Little Rock’s Hall and J.A. Fair high schools, as well as Cloverdale Middle School; Rose City Middle School in North Little Rock; Osceola Middle and High schools; and Trusty Elementary School in Fort Smith.

Schools that are continuing to receive funds this year are the Helena-West Helena School District’s Central High School; Marvell-Elaine School District’s Marvell High School; the Pulaski County Special School District’s Jacksonville High School; Forrest City High School; Hughes High School; and Little Rock McClellan High School.

Marvell High was recently designated by the state as an “achieving” school after meeting student-achievement goals on state exams. But the school will continue to receive the federal funding this year despite the label change, Lester said.

Lester said the schools have used their School Improvement Grants - which can amount to as much as $6 million per campus over three years - for technology purchases, including student laptop and tablet computers; for programs to supplement instruction such as the Read 180 program for struggling readers; and for specialty staff such as math and literacy specialists and graduation coaches.

The federal grants are awarded to state education agencies that make competitive subgrants to schools in need and show the strongest commitment to provide adequate resources to substantially raise student achievement in their lowest-performing schools.

Besides Arkansas and Kentucky, other states named Monday as recipients of funds were Missouri, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wisconsin, all of which are receiving money to fulfill their three-year commitments to previously selected schools.