Reporters around the country collaborated with the Education Writers Association, Education Week and The Hechinger Report for an analysis of the nation’s massive effort to improve its lowest-performing schools. Education News Colorado was one of the partners.

The School Improvement Grant program, known as SIG, is an unprecedented effort by federal officials to turn around schools where most students have rarely, if ever, performed at grade-level expectations.

More than $5 billion has gone into the initiative, which involves more than 1,200 schools around the nation, including 27 in Colorado. They have been deemed the lowest 5 percent of U.S. schools.

For each day in this three-part series, EdNews published a national story and a closer look at a Colorado SIG school:

Part 1 – National overview, Denver’s Lake campus

• Colorado: Growing pains at Denver’s Lake campus, includes school achievement, budget and enrollment data
• National: Verdict still out on school turnarounds, includes list of all Colorado SIG schools, grant amounts and recent achievement

Part 2 – Teacher evaluations, Sheridan’s Fort Logan Elementary

• Colorado: Charting a new course in Sheridan, includes school and district achievement, budget and enrollment data
• National: Teacher evaluation requirement has wide impact, with link to states that have sought waivers of the requirement

Part 3 – SIG in a recession, Center’s Haskin Elementary

• Colorado: Grant spurs big changes in tiny Center, includes school and district achievement, budget and enrollment data
• National: Federal SIG dollars flow as states cut school budgets, includes graphic showing states’ education funding cuts

Updates

• Progress report on Colorado SIG schools – Oct. 12, 2012