Highline is among nine school districts identified March 29 to receive federal School Improvement Grants, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction announced.

The three-year grant will be used to institute major changes at SeaTac's Chinook Middle School and North Highline's Cascade Middle School.

Highline has chosen the transformation model for reform at the two schools. It is the least drastic of four options offered by state education officials.

The most controversial element involves replacing the principals at both schools. The reform model also calls for implementing a new evaluation system that uses student achievement as a significant factor and rewarding staff that are increasing student performance while supporting and then removing teachers who are not.

The grants for the nine districts total $17 million for the 2010-11 school year.

The other districts are Seattle, Tacoma, Marysville, Yakima, Wellpinit, Sunnyside, Grandview and Longview.

Each district will next work with OSPI to finalize the list of schools to be served in that district and to finalize the monetary amounts for each school. The schools that will be served, and the money they will receive, will be posted to the OSPI Web site on April 27, along with the unsuccessful applications.

"We received many impressive applications and participated in meaningful interviews," said Janell Newman, assistant superintendent for district and school improvement and accountability at OSPI. "But district requests for funds were much greater than the amount of funds available."

In all, 41 schools from 21 districts applied for the grants and requested around $49 million.

Recipients of the School Improvement Grants had to demonstrate a strong commitment to one of four intervention models: turnaround, restart, closure or transformation. The overall goal of the program is to understand which practices produce the most significant improvements in student achievement, specifically those practices that reflect the diversity of schools, such as those serving Title I populations and those serving large populations of traditionally underserved groups, such as Native American students, Latino students, ELL students and poor students.

The selection of the nine districts involved a complex process involving many steps. First, an independent organization reviewed each school eligible for the grants on its classroom and school practices. That review was shared with the school and the district. Multiple reviewers reviewed Grant applications, and interviews with all districts also were conducted. Alan Burke, deputy superintendent of teaching and learning at OSPI, and Randy Dorn, state superintendent, then approved initial recommendations.

Districts that will not be receiving grants will work with OSPI to find services that might be available to help them, such as district-level reviews, math and reading program reviews, coaching for instructional leaders and online classroom data collection.

For more information about the School Improvement Grant program, please go to http://www.k12.wa.us/improvement/FederalGrants.aspx.