The Evolving School Improvement Fund

The School Improvement Fund (Section 1003(g) of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) recognizes that schools with high percentages of students in poverty may require additional support in order to help their students achieve academic proficiency. As such, the 1003(g) School Improvement Fund has since 2007 provided competitive funding opportunities to Title I schools considered to be in improvement status under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The Fund has provided vital financial support necessary to make critical improvements in the teaching and learning environment of grantee schools, including enhancing professional development for teachers, hiring additional staff to support small-group and individualized instruction, and purchasing classroom instructional technology. All fifty states received School Improvement Fund grants in the 2008-2009 school year. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have received funding for the 2010-2011 school year. In addition, as of the first round of competition for the supplemental Race to the Top funding, Delaware and Tennessee were the only two of the forty-one applicants selected to receive supplemental funding