The Gates Foundation has announced awards in an emerging area of its grantmaking: state efforts to turn around low-performing schools and districts.
It is putting up $15.5 million to strengthen California’s district-improvement plan and to provide more assistance to struggling school systems, in part through the deployment of intervention teams to 15 districts. The grant, announced Nov. 13, will back work by the California Department of Education and the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association.
And on Nov. 22, North Carolina Gov. Michael F. Easley announced a $1.8 million gift from Gates that will let the state form a permanent team of experts to monitor and assess 37 high schools with low test scores two years in a row.
“Major changes are needed to improve performance in schools that are not making the grade,” the Democratic governor said in a press release. “We are demanding these schools go beyond traditional approaches, with significant restructuring. These funds will help expand our high school turnaround effort.”
