Federal government offers grants to overhaul 'worst' schools

Marysville Superintendent Larry Nyland says Tulalip Elementary doesn't deserve to be on a new list of Washington state's lowest-performing schools.

In his view, the school progressed tremendously in the past few years — just not in ways that the federal government measures.

Still, Nyland intends to apply for a share of $50 million in federal grants available to his school and some four dozen others in Washington that are on that list, including three in Seattle.

It's just too much money to pass up, he said.

"Although we might have some angst about the process, we ... want to do well by the kids, and the grant can help us do that."

The grants are part of a $3.5 billion national effort, announced last summer, to overhaul schools judged to be among the lowest 5 percent in terms of student achievement. On Monday, President Obama announced that he wants to add another $900 million to the program.

Schools can receive anywhere from $50,000 to $2 million a year for three years, provided they agree to one of four types of major overhauls, which range from closing the school to introducing a new instructional program and new methods for evaluating and rewarding teachers.

The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has not yet publicly released the names of the schools on Washington's list, saying it's still awaiting final approval from the feds.

In the meantime, eligible districts must apply for a grant by Friday, and the state plans to announce the winners on March 26.

While some school districts have publicly acknowledged they have schools on the list, others have not. Seattle will say it has three schools but won't yet confirm which ones.

What's known so far: Along with the three Seattle schools and Tulalip Elementary, the list includes two middle schools in the Highline School District (Cascade and Chinook), four middle schools in Tacoma and one in Longview.

Nyland said his district also learned late last week that it has a second school on the list, Totem Middle.

Each state had some leeway in determining which schools to put on the list, but in Washington the primary criteria are three years of reading and math scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. The grants also are limited to schools eligible for the federal Title I program, which means they have a high percentage of students from low-income families.

Graduation rates in secondary schools were also taken into account.

Like other Obama administration education initiatives, this one offers big financial incentives for accepting controversial requirements.

In brief, districts can close a school, replace its principal and half its staff, turn it into a charter school (which is not allowed under Washington law), or "transform" it. The latter has a number of requirements, such as tougher teacher evaluations, a new instructional program and more learning time for students.

Some question how well any of them will work.

Mary Alice Heuschel, superintendent in the Renton School District and former deputy state superintendent, called the effort more political than effective. In her experience, a school can make progress on its own, but can sustain that progress only when the effort is districtwide.

But President Obama has applauded a school district in Rhode Island whose superintendent decided to fire the entire staff at one high school — a move reportedly taken after negotiations over how to transform the school broke down.

In Tacoma, the superintendent is proposing to close one middle school, replace the principals and at least half the staff at two others, and transform the fourth.

In Highline, Marysville and Seattle, school officials say they intend to use the transformation approach.

In Seattle, the teachers union voted last week to accept that option over the option of replacing half the staff. The vote followed what union president Olga Addae described as a robust debate.

The teachers felt they had no choice but to support one of the options, she said, because schools need more financial support.

Many teachers thought both choices had elements that are educationally unsound, Addae said, but decided on transformation because it wouldn't leave the impression that something was wrong with the teachers.

"If you displaced 50 percent of the staff, it would look like we are saying that the teachers are the problem," she said.

Many of the details of what may happen in the three Seattle schools are yet to be determined, but the district has said those schools will have a new teacher-evaluation system and that student performance will be a significant factor in those evaluations. The district also may reward a school's entire staff if the school meets certain goals.

The state's largest teachers union opposes proposals to include similar efforts in the state's application for a federal Race to the Top grant.

The state superintendent's office will use federal guidelines to choose which of the 45-50 schools receive grants. How many are chosen will depend on the amount each school requests, said spokesman Nathan Olson.

The federal government has discouraged states from giving schools less than they ask for, he said.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com