ABSTRACT
The federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program aims to increase educational equity and improve the economy by transforming the nation’s lowest performing schools into high-performing learning environments. Early press releases and speeches from President Obama and Education Secretary Duncan about the SIG program reinforced the oft-heard notion that a subset of the public school system is failing to adequately educate children, thereby squelching America’s economic hopes (U.S. DOE, 2013). In his 2010 State of the Union address, President Obama nested the SIG policy in his overall economic recovery plan:
Instead of funding the status quo, we [will] only invest in reform—reform that raises student achievement … and turns around failing schools that steal the future of too many young Americans. … In the 21st century, one of the best anti-poverty programs is a world-class education.
(Obama, 2011)