In this Gadfly piece where I criticized the School Improvement Fund, I predicted with sadness that most states and districts would take the easy way out and (instead of closing and replacing failing schools) use the weakest intervention model possible, the "transformation" option.
State RTT applications are confirming my fears, and I'll have more to say about that later. But in the meantime, I just found this quote from the spokesman from Maine's Department of Education. He was asked how his state would use its millions from the federal SIF program:
???For us the transformational model is the most likely,??? said Connerty-Marin, who declined to identify any of the 10 Maine schools that are on the lowest-performing list.
--Andy Smarick