GE Foundation2010 City Success Stories
This year the Stamford Public School (SPS) district was awarded an additional $10.4 million, 4-year grant. This amount brings the total support to $26.4 million. The additional support was given to build upon the district's impressive improvement over the last five years.
Through the support of this extended grant, the GE Foundation Developing Futures™ in Education program in the SPS district is helping to narrow the achievement gap of students.
With support from the GE Foundation, the district's K-12 math and science curricula have been aligned with state and national standards and curricula instruction in these areas has increased from 45 minutes to 60 minutes a day. New instructional programs have been implemented at all grade levels. Teachers now use common assessments to evaluate student progress in both core content areas. High school students enrolled in biology, chemistry and physics now have weekly lab time. These improvements have been followed by an increase in standardized test scores across grades and student demographic categories.
Specifically, math gains of 10 or more percentage points were achieved in multiple grades for Black, White and Hispanic students. The percentage of Black students in grade 6 performing at the advanced achievement level has risen from 18.3% in 2006 to 42.2% in 2010, helping to decrease the achievement gap in the district.
GE Volunteers and business expertise strengthen the GE-SPS partnership. In Stamford GE Volunteers have mentored and counseled over 200 middle school students. They have also supported the upgrade of district human resource systems to improve the district's ability to recruit, retain and train highly qualified teachers.
Funds from the grant extension, which will run through the end of the 2012-2013 school year, will continue to support the mission of SPS in preparing each and every student for higher education and success in the 21st century. Future initiatives include the continuation of implementation for math and science across K-12 and implementing a comprehensive K-12 literacy curriculum, including scientific research-based interventions and the required professional development for staff.
In addition to the success in Stamford, CT impressive results have been monitored in Cincinnati as well.
Through the support of a $20 million grant from the GE Foundation Developing Futures in Education™ program, Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) has been able to rise in state rankings for the first time in over a decade from "Continuous Improvement" to "Effective." It also places CPS as the only urban district in the state with this ranking for 2009-10.
"Effective" is the fourth highest of six categories on Ohio's report card, an annual rating of schools and districts based on students' passage rates on statewide tests, graduation rates, attendance trends and other data. The district also met federal standards- another condition for moving to "Effective."
GE Foundation dollars were used in the reform strategy, which has demonstrated unprecedented results. Thirteen of the 16 schools have shown measurable improvement in overall performance and at least five of the schools have jumped two categories in the state report card.
The GE-CPS partnership is strengthened by GE Volunteers and business expertise. Close to 1,000 employees work in at least a dozen Cincinnati schools every year and GE Aviation has provided facilities management, helping save the school district about $12.5 million.
The five-year grant commitment will end in 2011. With sustainability planning under way, more progress and continued success is expected from CPS.
Results and progress of each Developing Futures city school district will continue to be monitored.