Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Education awarded more than $16.2 million to eight grantees to develop and implement or enhance and implement a leadership pipeline that selects, prepares, places, supports and retains school leaders or leadership teams at low-performing schools that need the most help in meeting the academic needs of its students.

Under the Turnaround School Leaders Program (TSLP), grantees develop systems at the school district level that are designed to provide high-quality training to selected new school leaders and current school leaders to prepare them to successfully lead turnaround efforts in School Improvement Grant (SIG) schools and/or SIG-eligible schools.

The Turnaround School Leaders grants are used to develop systems that are designed to place school leaders in SIG schools and/or SIG-eligible schools and provide them with ongoing professional development and other support that focuses on instructional leadership and school management, and is based on individual needs consistent with the school district’s plan for turning around its SIG schools and/or SIG-eligible schools. Programs are designed to retain effective school leaders or replace ineffective ones.

“Strong school leadership makes the difference between good schools and bad schools; successful students and unsuccessful students. Building strong school leadership has always been my priority,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. “These grants will help retain and support strong leadership in schools that need it the most.”

Funds can be used to:

• Recruit school leaders with the competencies necessary to turn around a SIG school or SIG-eligible school;
• Provide high-quality training to selected school leaders to prepare them to successfully lead turnaround efforts in SIG schools and/or SIG-eligible schools;
• Place school leaders in SIG schools and/or SIG-eligible schools and provide them with ongoing professional development and other support that focuses on instructional leadership and school management

Through the TSLP program, grants are awarded to a school district or consortium of school districts; a state in partnership with a school district or consortium of school districts; an institution of higher education in partnership with a school district or consortium of school districts; another public or private nonprofit or for-profit organization in partnership with a school district and/or consortium of school districts; or a combination of all eligible applicants that have at least five SIG schools and/or SIG-eligible schools.

Below is a list of the eight new grant awards. For more information on the Turnaround School Leaders program, visit http://www2.ed.gov/programs/turnaroundschlldr/index.html.

2015 Turnaround School Leaders Program Grantees