Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA)
April 9, 2011
HEADLINE: No grant for Prescott

By Stacey Becker

3 more schools awarded funds In Iowa, a total of 13 Tier I persistently lowest-achieving schools were identified. Six of those schools were awarded School Improvement Grant funds in 2010. This year, of the seven additional Tier I persistently lowest-achieving schools, six applied for SIG grants and three were awarded funds. The three schools are:

o Irving Elementary (Waterloo), $857,810.
o Harding Middle School (Des Moines), $784,641.
o Findley Elementary (Des Moines), $977,584.

Prescott Elementary School did not receive a grant that would have forced the replacement of the school's principal and bring about other changes. "I am disappointed that we do not have the opportunity for additional funding for our lowest-achieving school," said Dubuque Community School District Superintendent Larie Godinez.

The Iowa Department of Education announced Friday that Prescott was not among the three schools that shared a $2.6 million School Improvement Grant. According to the Iowa Department of Education, limited funding this year meant that only three of the newly identified Tier I schools in Iowa were able to receive a grant.

The three-year grant, guaranteed for only one year, required persistently lowest-achieving schools to choose one of four reform models that included the replacement of the principal. Prescott was designated earlier this school year as a persistently lowest-achieving school, as part of No Child Left Behind legislation. It was one of 13 Iowa schools to receive the designation given to Title I schools that are deemed Schools in Need of Assistance and rank in the bottom 5 percent of the state's schools.

"This is another illustration of problems associated with NCLB," Godinez said. "Monies that are provided for the lowest-achieving schools are competitively based when they should be awarded on need."

Godinez said she isn't sure what will happen to Prescott Principal Chris McCarron. She added, however, that the principal will continue to have an administrative position within the district.

"We are not going to fund the pieces of the grant," said Associate Superintendent Lynne Devaney.

She added that Prescott will receive its appropriate funding, just like the other district schools.


The grant would have, among other things, provided Prescott additional support to continue the current instructional design. "It's as strong or stronger than other schools in the district," Devaney said. "They need to continue to build traction on those things already in place."

She said that although Prescott students don't meet the annual yearly progress on one standardized test, they do make improvement throughout the year at Prescott, based on other measurements. "Their data shows that they do make that growth," Devaney said.

While it was disappointing to some, Devaney said it was not surprising Prescott didn't receive its $1.7 million grant application. "I, myself, was saying this is a school making good progress," she said.

One reason for the grant's denial might have been Devaney's honesty. In the application's section that asked how programs would be sustained, Devaney wrote the district wouldn't be able to sustain the programs because of its budget. "I was honest about that," she said.

Godinez said the district will request further details from the Iowa Department of Education to learn why it didn't receive the grant. That information would be important if Prescott is redesignated as a persistently lowest-achieving school next school year and district officials decide to reapply for the grant. "We have to give the kids the opportunity to have the resources," Devaney said