Direction on Defining Persistently Low-Achieving Schools Elusive

Washington, February 19 — More than a month after states submitted their definitions of persistently low-achieving schools (PLAS), the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has yet to approve a single state’s definition, imperiling the department’s ambitious timeline for awarding and implementing millions of dollars in School Improvement Grants (SIG).

A central component of the SIG application depends on the PLAS definition states were required to submit by Jan. 11 in conjunction with applications for the second phase of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF).