GENTRY — School board members unanimously agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Arkansas Department of Education at a special meeting on Jan. 6. The signed memorandum would make the school district eligible to receive a large but unspecified sum of American Reinvestment and Recovery Act money should the state application be accepted and a grant awarded.

If awarded, the federal grant money would not come without strings attached. The school district, by signing the memorandum, is agreeing to use national assessment models and national standards and would either have to use the state’s teacher / principal evaluation tool or redraft its own to make it comparable to the state’s. Teacher performance would be evaluated based on student performance, and schools identified as “persistently lowestachieving schools” would be subject to school intervention models define by the U.S. Department of Education which could require the firing of the school principal and replacing of no less than 50 percent of the teaching staff. Low performing schools could be closed down or converted into charter schools under the federal model.

A Jan. 4 letter from Dr. Tom Kimbrell, ADE commissioner, states: “The major components of Arkansas’s application address in a cohesive manner the four pillars put forth by the U.S. Department of Education as the overarching goals of all AmericanReinvestment and Recovery Act education funding: 1) graduating college- and career-ready students; 2) using longitudinal data systems to improve instruction; 3) increasing teacher effectiveness; and 4) providing intensive support and intervention to students in lower-performing schools.”

Gentry Schools superintendent Dr. Randy Barrett told board members there was nothing in the memorandum which he disagreed with in concept but did voice concerns about not having seen the teacher and principal evaluation tools in writing.

“While I’m not in 100 percent agreement with the timeliness and methodology, there’s nothing in here that is not in the best interest of our students,” Barrett said.

Barrett also made reference to a Jan. 4 “Education Week” article dealing with the Race to the Top program. According to Barrett, the article calls the rules for the Race to the Top program an indicator of requirements for the disbursement of federal funds to school districts in the future, including Title I funds for disadvantaged students.

Barrett said, if this is the direction things are going, it would be better for the school district to get on board now and begin implementing the new goals and evaluative tools.

Friday was the deadline for local education agencies, which include 244 school districts and 20 charter schools in Arkansas, to mail the memorandum to the Arkansas Department of Education. Once the state agency collects the memorandums, the governor and attorney general will have about a week to review the overall application packet before the Jan. 19 federal deadline.

Arkansas Department of Education spokeswoman Julie Johnson Thompsonsaid she did not know how many states will participate in the national competition, but she expected widespread involvement. Participating states will compete for about $4.35 billion in federal grant money, which will be awarded in two rounds. The first round of state winners will be announced in April. States that do not receive an award in the first round will have the opportunity to adjust proposals and apply before the June 1 deadline for the second round of award money.

Winners will be chosen according to a combination of demonstrated need and demonstrated adherence to education goals set by the federal government.

Those including college and career readiness for graduating high school seniors, teacher effectiveness, use of longitudinal data systems to improve curricula and intensive intervention for low-performing schools.

Thompson said the state’s 200-page application was drafted with help from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Arkansas was selected by the foundation as one of 15 states to receive assistance drafting Race to the Top grant proposals.

If Arkansas receives Race to the Top money, 50 percent will be distributed among local education agencies, although not necessarily on a per capita basis. Thompson said moneywould likely be weighted toward helping lower-performing schools if Arkansas receives funding, although all participating districts and charter schools would receive at least some of the award.

“If they’ve joined, they’re assured of getting some of the money,” Thompson said. “If they’ve agreed to these objectives, we want them to get the funds to do what they want to do. This isn’t meant to be any kind of hardship.”

Ryan McGeeney contributed to this article.

News, Pages 1 on 01/13/2010