Innovation Program for Student Achievement
The Decatur City Schools and its School Board have initiated a Continual Improvement Program that contains aggressive goals for increasing student achievement using measurable data such as test scores and graduation rates.
The Foundation supports this effort and has developed the Innovation Program for Student Achievement to help schools achieve their goals and to establish a culture of innovation throughout our school system.
The Foundation is facilitating a process of collaboration with school principals to encourage research and sharing of ideas as they develop a plan to increase student achievement at their school. These plans will be based on success stories from other schools around the country or from successful approaches within our system.
Each school will submit a finalized plan and request for funding to the Foundation that defines how initial grant money would be used to achieve progress goals.
Progress will be assessed regularly throughout the year using measurable data. Ongoing collaboration sessions will be conducted, in order to quickly identify and share approaches that are working while addressing areas of concern.
Schools that meet their stated goals each year will receive financial rewards that can be used for program expansion, classroom supplies, technology, or student enrichment activities. Schools that exceed their goals at a level defined by the foundation will receive a higher level of reward funds.