Delaware is One of Six States to Focus on Failing Schools Through Public-Private Partnership

Delaware, along with five other states (Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts and New York) will participate in a three-year public-private partnership to create scalable and sustainable strategies for turning around clusters of their lowest-performing schools.  A two-year extension is slated to follow the initial three-year effort.  The announcement was made February 2 by the School Turnaround Group at Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, a non-profit organization that published the ground-breaking 2007 report, The
Turnaround Challenge. Planning and development for the Partnership Zone Initiative has been funded with a $1.5 million, two-year grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, along with a partial match from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Mass Insight and its partners are committed to raising an additional $30 million of private funding for the three-year initial program and further funding for a two-year extension to match the $45 million of school level public funding.  Public funds will come from state commitments to target federal 1003g School Improvement Grants to schools in the Zones.  The major single investment in Partnership Zone schools will go towards increased teacher compensation to support extended learning time and incentive pay.