Achieving Change in Education Act or ACE Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) to require states to identify public elementary or secondary schools as reward schools if they are making significant progress in closing the achievement gap and increasing student academic achievement, growth, and high school graduation rates for students in the aggregate and for the poor, minority, disabled, and limited English proficient student subgroups.
Allows reward schools to use ESEA funds, except those related to serving special populations, in a comprehensive and coordinated manner for innovative programs.
Directs the Secretary of Education to award formula grants to states and, through them, subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to provide: (1) tangible rewards to reward school staff, and (2) reward schools with financial rewards and increased budgeting and staffing flexibility.
Requires states to identify public schools as persistently low-performing schools if they are not making progress in improving the academic performance of their students and are performing in the bottom 5% of the state's elementary and secondary schools or have secondary school graduation rates below 60%.
Requires the Secretary to make formula grants to states and, through them, competitive subgrants to LEAs and LEAs that partner with experienced turnaround partners to: (1) implement one of six intervention models at each persistently low-performing school, and (2) identify and address issues that may contribute to low academic achievement in such schools. Sets forth the intervention actions required under the transformation, restart, school closure, turnaround, school engagement, and expanded school choice models. Makes LEAs eligible for a subgrant extension if they make significant annual progress on certain core academic indicators and leading indicators.