Massachusetts Awards Grants to Help School Districts Establish Readiness Schools

Grants Support Launch of 22 Schools in 16 Districts Across Massachusetts

BOSTON – The Patrick Administration today announced that 16 school districts across the Commonwealth will receive grants to establish innovative, in-district “Readiness Schools.”

The 16 districts will develop plans to launch up to 22 schools beginning in Fall 2010. Totaling $200,000, the grants range from $10,000 - $36,000 per district and will provide educators with the necessary resources to begin designing the new schools.

“The strong response to the Readiness Schools initiative shows that school districts are enthusiastic about the opportunity to use greater autonomy to improve their schools,” said Governor Deval Patrick. “Readiness Schools provide powerful opportunities to promote innovation, close achievement gaps, and give students and families more choices in public education.”

Readiness Schools will utilize increased flexibility and autonomy in one or more of these key areas: curriculum, budget, staffing, school schedule and calendar, and school district policies.

They can be developed as new schools or as conversions of existing schools, and each school will operate under a performance contract that sets specific goals for student achievement and school improvement.

The grant announcement kicks off the implementation of the Readiness Schools initiative, one of the primary proposals that emerged from Governor Deval Patrick’s Education Action Agenda last summer. The initiative also is a key part of the Commonwealth’s forthcoming application for federal “Race to the Top” education funding, which will provide more than $4 billion to states to promote education reform.

The initiative will support the establishment of three types of Readiness Schools:

Advantage Schools, in which school faculty and leadership primarily will be responsible for developing the “innovation plan” and performance contract under which the school operates;
Alliance Schools, in which external partners such as colleges, museums, and other organizations will play a central role in developing the innovation plan, and will be held accountable for meeting the terms of the performance contract;
Acceleration Schools, which will be conversions of underperforming and chronically-underperforming schools implemented through innovation plans and performance contracts developed by the Commissioner, with input from local stakeholders.

The grants, which are funded through the state’s Targeted Assistance program, will allow districts to plan and implement strategic reforms to improve student achievement during the 2009-10 school year, and leverage those reforms to establish Advantage Schools and Alliance Schools beginning in Fall 2010. The Patrick Administration plans to introduce legislation soon to authorize Acceleration Schools, as well as some components of the first two categories.

“These sixteen school districts have a head start on one of the most exciting education reforms in the past decade,” said Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville. “By passing Readiness Schools legislation quickly, we can give these districts even more tools to work with, and provide Massachusetts with an advantage when applying for Race to the Top funding.”

Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester agreed.

"These 16 districts are positioning themselves to be among the Commonwealth's leaders in education reform and innovation," he said. "I am excited to work with them and to see the vision of Readiness Schools put into action."

Grants were awarded to the following school districts:

Adams-Cheshire/North Adams: $10,500 to support the development of a new, two-district, middle-grade Advantage “virtual school” in partnership with the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

Ashburnham-Westminster: $10,000 to support the development of an Advantage “school within a school” serving grades 2-5;

Boston: $36,376 to support the development of two Advantage high school conversions and a new grade 6-12 Advantage School;

Fall River: $10,800 to support the development of up to two schools (Advantage or Alliance)

Gill-Montague: $11,080 to support the development of up to two schools, including an Alliance elementary school and a program serving students with autism;

Greenfield: $15,000 to support the development of up to three Readiness Schools by Fall 2011, including an elementary school conversion, middle school conversion, and new 8^th grade program;

Lynn: $10,500 to support the development of a Readiness School conversion at the elementary or middle school level;

New Bedford: $10,500 to support the development of a high school conversion, with potential public higher education partners

North Middlesex Regional: $10,500 to support the development of a new grade 5-12 school in partnership with Teachers 21

Pittsfield: $10,500 to support the development of an Advantage elementary school;

Ralph C. Mahar Regional: $10,500 to support the development of a secondary-level Readiness School, using the Gateway to College model, with a potential community college partner

Randolph: $10,500 to support the development of one Readiness School (Advantage or Alliance);

Revere: $10,500 to support the development of an Advantage elementary school conversion;

Salem: $10,500 to support the development of an Alliance elementary school conversion, in partnership with Salem State College

Somerville: $19,144 to support the development of up to two K-8 conversions, including one modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone