Evaluation of Michigan's 1003(g) School Improvement Grants

Implementation Trends in the First Year

By: Juan Carlos Bojorquez, John Rice, Jerry Hipps, Jian Li

This report summarizes implementation trends for the first year of WestEd’s three-year evaluation of the 18 districts and 28 schools in Michigan that were awarded 1003(g) School Improvement Grants (SIGs) in fall 2010.

WestEd researchers interviewed 51 individuals who were heavily involved with SIG planning and implementation, including district-level SIG administrators and principals of SIG schools. The interview data were supplemented with benchmarking tools completed by SIG monitors.

Researchers found a number of trends across the SIG districts and schools in the following domains:

• Governance and leadership
• Recruitment and staffing
• Performance evaluation, incentives, and staff removal
• Professional development and coaching
• Monitoring

The evaluation team also noted several differences between turnaround and transformation schools related to staffing, training, and monitoring.

Findings will inform the more extensive data collection about implementation that is planned for the second year.