Presenters:

1. Investing in Innovation Fund (i3): Implications for Community SchoolsFriday March 26, 2010www.communityschools.orgwww.iel.org Presenters: Martin J. Blank,President, Institute for Educational Leadership; Director, Coalition for Community Schools S. Kwesi Rollins, Director of Leadership Programs, Institute for Educational Leadership

2. Webinar Instructions • If you cannot hear the presenters try increasing your computer speaker volume. • “Q & A" will take place at the very end. • You can type questions into “chat box” during the presentation. • Presenters will address these questions at the end. www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

3. i3 Overview • $650 million to be obligated by September 2010 • Provide competitive grants to eligible applicants with a record of improving student achievement, attainment or retention in order to expand the implementation of, and investment in, innovative practices that are demonstrated to have an impact on: • Improving student achievement or student growth, closing achievement gaps, decreasing dropout rates, increasing high school graduation rates • Increasing college enrollment and completion rates www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

4. 1st Cut: Are You Eligible? • You must be either: • A Local educational agencies (LEAs) or a • Nonprofit organizations in partnership with (a) one or more LEAs or (b) a consortium of schools • NOTE: all applicants and official partners must be eligible individually. • In order for your application to be reviewed – you MUST be eligible! www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

5. If you are a LEA… • You must: • Address needs of high-need students • Address one absolute priority • Demonstrate that you’ve: • closed achievement gaps or improved achievement for all groups of students, and • achieved significant improvement in other areas • Establish partnerships with private sector • Secure commitments for required private sector match • Meet the evidence requirement for the type of grant applied for www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

6. If you are a Non-profit partnering with LEAs or a consortium of schools… • You must: • Address needs of high-need students • Address one absolute priority • Demonstrate that the non-profit organization has a record of improving student achievement, attainment, or retention • Secure commitment for required private sector match • Meet the evidence requirement for the type of grant applied www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

7. Absolute Priorities • Must address one of the following: • Innovations that Support Effective Teachers and Leaders • Innovations that Improve the Use of Data • Innovations that Complement the Implementation of High Standards and High-Quality Assessments • Innovations that Turn Around Persistently in Low-Performing Schools www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

8. Persistently Low-Performing Schools • “Under this priority, the Department provides funding to support strategies, practices, or programs that are designed to turn around schools that are in any of the following categories: (a) persistently lowest-achieving schools (as defined in the final requirements for the School Improvement Grants program)…” www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

9. School Improvement Grant - Lowest-achieving schools “Persistently lowest-achieving schools means, as determined by the State-- (a) Any Title I school in improvement, corrective action, or restructuring that — • Is among the lowest-achieving five percent of Title I schools in improvement, corrective action, or restructuring or the lowest-achieving five Title I schools in improvement, corrective action, or restructuring in the State, whichever number of schools is greater; or • Is a high school that has had a graduation rate as defined in 34 C.F.R. § 200.19(b) that is less than 60 percent over a number of years; and www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

10. School Improvement Grant - Lowest-achieving schools (b) Any secondary school that is eligible for, but does not receive, Title I funds that — • Is among the lowest-achieving five percent of secondary schools or the lowest-achieving five secondary schools in the State that are eligible for, but do not receive, Title I funds, whichever number of schools is greater; or • Is a high school that has had a graduation rate as defined in 34 C.F.R. § 200.19(b) that is less than 60 percent over a number of years.” (source: School Improvement Guidance, January 2010) www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

11. Competitive Priorities • May address one or more of the following: • Innovations for Improving Early Learning Outcomes • Innovations that Support College Access and Success • Innovations to Address the Unique Learning Needs of Students With Disabilities and Limited English Proficient Students • Innovations that Serve Schools in Rural LEAs www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

12. Three i3 Buckets • Development – reasonable hypothesis • Validation – moderate evidence • Scale-up – strong evidence www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

13. Where do Community Schools Fit? Development Grants • Will provide funding to support high-potential and relatively untested practices, strategies, or programs • Applicants must provide evidence that the proposed practice, strategy, or program, or one similar to it, has been attempted previously, albeit on a limited scale or in a limited setting, and yielded promising results that suggest that more formal and systematic study is warranted. www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

14. Where do Community Schools Fit? Development Grants • Applicants must provide a rationale for the proposed practice, strategy, or program based on research findings or reasonable hypotheses. • Applicants must estimate the number of students to be served by the project, and provide evidence of the applicant’s ability to implement and appropriately evaluate the proposed project and, if positive results are obtained, its capacity to further develop and bring the project to a larger scale www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

15. Selection Process www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

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18. Development Grants - 2 Tier Review Process Tier #1: Reviewers will review and score all eligible Development applications on the following five selection criteria:  A. Strength of Research C. Prior Research Studies Supporting Effectiveness or Efficacy of the Proposed Practice, Strategy, or Program E. Participants and Settings in Prior Research F. Significance of Effect G. Magnitude of Effect Tier #2: Eligible applications that score highly on the above five criteria will then have the remaining two selection criteriareviewed and scored by a different panel of reviewers. B. Internal & External Validity D. Practice, Strategy, or Program in Prior Research www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

19. Dates to Remember! www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

20. Q & A www.communityschools.org www.iel.org

21. Department of Education Resources • i3website - http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html • i3 Application Package - http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/applicant.html • ED’s Open Innovation Portal - https://innovation.ed.gov/ • Become a i3 Peer Reviewer - http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/peerreviewers.html • All questions about i3 may be sent toi3@ed.gov www.communityschools.org

22. Contact Info & Resources • Coalition’s i3 Planning Toolkit: • Using Title I for Community Schools • Community Schools Logic Model • Community Schools: Producing Results That Turn Around Failing Schools • Community Schools Research Brief, 2009 • Community & Family Engagement: Principals Share What Works • Community-Based Learning: Engaging Students for Success and Citizenship • www.communityschools.org www.communityschools.org www.iel.org