U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit Ohio on Thursday, Oct. 31, for two events, as part of his Partners in Progress tour to see America’s ingenuity in education at work and discuss progress, promise and results. At noon, Duncan will give remarks at the Rural Education National Forum, hosted by Battelle for Kids and the Ohio Department of Education at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. He will highlight education reforms that are working for students in rural areas and the President’s ConnectED proposal to connect 99% of students across the country to next generation broadband in their schools and libraries in five years. A question-and-answer session will follow.
Following the forum, Duncan will host a town hall at 2:40 p.m. at Dunbar High School, a School Improvement Grant recipient, in Dayton, Ohio. He will recognize the significant academic strides that students at this early college high school have made. Duncan will discuss changes, challenges and champions that are making a difference in low-achieving schools and the opportunities this school is providing students to help them graduate college and career ready. A media availability will follow the town hall.
School Improvement Grants are awarded to State Educational Agencies (SEAs) that then make competitive subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) that demonstrate the greatest need for the funds and the strongest commitment to use them to substantially raise student achievement in their lowest-performing schools. Under the Obama Administration, the SIG program has invested up to $2 million per school at more than 1,300 of the country's lowest-performing schools. Early findings show that many schools receiving SIG grants are improving, and some of the greatest gains have been in small towns and rural communities.