An East Ramapo middle school is one of 39 struggling schools across the state to receive federal grants to help pull itself into better standing.
“Chestnut Ridge Middle School has secured $2.4 million to implement an educational framework that focuses more on college and career readiness. Among the eight East Ramapo schools designated by the state as troubled earlier this year, Chestnut Ridge ranked the worst and was marked as a priority school.
In total, the state Education Department is disbursing $95 million to priority schools – ones that have been identified as struggling for a number of years based on exam results or graduate rates – to improve within three years, the agency announced earlier this week.
EAST RAMAPO: District details how it will spend $3M in state aid
STATE: Schools in East Ramapo are identified as troubled
Recipients must use the grants to implement one of several improvement models, ranging from replacing the principal and part of the staff, to converting the school into a charter, or to launching a whole school redesign using a federally approved framework. Grants will be paid out over a 5-year period and continued funding is dependent upon progress made towards goal, the state said.
Chris Bottini, an East Ramapo spokesman, said the district has chosen to reform the school’s educational framework to focus on boosting student achievement on standardized tests, increasing the number of students taking advanced courses and developing systematic professional development for teachers and staff.
Chestnut Ridge Middle School was the only school in Rockland County awarded funding during this round of grants. Within Westchester County, the Mount Vernon City School District and Yonkers School District each received $2.5 million to move forward with framework reforms.”
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