March 14, 2011

TiZA recently completed its dissemination grant program helping five Minnesota charter schools make significant gain in student achievement. The program came in well under budget, and TiZA was able to return nearly 80 percent of the grant funds to the federal government.

In 2008, TiZA was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Education for a program that would allow the nationally recognized school to disseminate its best practices to Minnesota charter schools serving some of the state’s poorest neighborhoods.

The dissemination grant also provided TiZA an opportunity to showcase its industry leading practice in efficient public asset management. TiZA’s unique best-practices dissemination program utilized only 21percent of the allocated grant funds, or $77,000 of the total $375,000 budget.

“The grant was about achieving a goal, helping schools improve student achievement” said Dr. Mahrous Kandil, TiZA board chair and campus director of TiZA’s Blaine campus. “Once we achieved that goal, we were able to return the funds.”

Along with achieving a goal of assisting five charter schools serving some of the poorest neighborhoods in strategies for improving reading comprehension creating action plans for creating successful leadership and management practices, TiZA also set a goal of managing and maximizing the grant funds without compromising quality.

“We spend money on things that work,” Kandil said. “If it doesn’t make sense to spend it, we don’t do it. This is the overall model of TiZA. We spend the money the right way.”

Charter partners included Harvest Prep Academy, Best Academy, Rochester Math and Science Academy, New Millennium Academy, and Lighthouse Academy of Nations.

After implementing some of TiZA’s best practices, every charter school in the program saw significant increases in student performances as measured by the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA). In addition, four of five schools have achieved “Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP),” as required by the federal “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) law.

Magdy Rabeaa, who serves as assistant campus director at TiZA’s Inver Grove Heights campus, also credited the cooperation of TiZA leaders and the five schools receiving the dissemination grants. “We have real teamwork between all of the TiZA campuses,” he said. “The partner schools also worked with us to implement the best strategies for their schools.  That teamwork helped us be more efficient in every way.” 

Of the 14 charter schools that applied for the dissemination grant since 2003, TiZA is the only school to receive the honor and funding.

“Nothing can be affected or achieved unless partnerships happen,” said Kandil. “When schools partner together and try to find what will work, I think we can make a real difference.”