Author: Patsy Crawford | Posted: 1. December 2011 05:17
In a November 23 press release, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that eight of the nine eligible states submitted applications to compete for a share of the $200 million Race to the Top Round 3 (RTT3) grant program; however, ED rejected one state’s application as incomplete. The seven states that submitted complete applications are Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. [More]
Author: Patsy Crawford | Posted: 20. June 2011 10:06
In March, 2011, President Barack Obama gave Congress an August 2011 deadline to rewrite the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Congress has made very little progress since then; and states and education leaders have placed increasing pressure on the Obama Administration to take action to relieve some of the constraints and penalties that NCLB imposes on states and school districts. [More]
Author: Patsy Crawford | Posted: 1. June 2011 07:32
On May 25, 2011 the U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued two press releases regarding the $700 million Race to the Top (RTT) appropriation provided by Congress in the FY 2011 budget bill passed on April 14th. One press release announced that $200 million of the RTT allocation will be used to fund a third round of the RTT competition initiated under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The other press release announced that the remaining $500 million will be used to launch a new RTT-Early Learning Challenge. [More]
Author: Patsy Crawford | Posted: 25. April 2011 08:57
On April 19, 2011 Education Week reported in an online article that school districts are using Race to the Top (RTT) funds for experiments in education reform. According to the article, in addition to the much-publicized reforms such as legislative changes in teacher evaluation and statewide longitudinal data systems, other less known “initiatives have the potential to create lasting improvements in schools.” For example, school districts across Florida are rolling out the state’s expansion of a teaching model called “lesson study” that encourages greater collaboration among teachers to better identify how to improve student performance in the classroom. [More]
Author: Patsy Crawford | Posted: 1. April 2011 08:45
As of March 29, 2011, seven of the 12 winners of the $4 billion Race to the Top (RTT) competition have amended their RTT education reform proposals with approval from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). According to ED’s Web site, amendments have been approved for Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee. The various amendments included timeline and budget adjustments, among other changes. [More]
Author: Patsy Crawford | Posted: 22. November 2010 08:59
On November 16, 2010 Education Week reported online, "Politicians and experts say the big Republican gains in Congress will serve as a roadblock to further Democrat-led education reform efforts, including a likely decrease in big-ticket spending as [Republicans] seek greater fiscal restraint." [More]
Author: Patsy Crawford | Posted: 15. October 2010 06:22
The ten winners in the second round of the Race to the Top competition have until November 22, 2010 to submit the individual education reform plans, called Scopes of Work (SOW), of each of their participating local education agencies (LEA) to the U.S. Department of Education. Education Week reports online that, in order to meet the deadline, state officials are requiring their LEAs to submit their SOWs to the states several weeks in advance of the deadline to allow time for revisions as necessary. [More]
Author: Patsy Crawford | Posted: 27. August 2010 04:55
On Tuesday, August 24, 2010, U.S. Department of Education (USDE) Secretary Arne Duncan announced 10 winners out of the 19 finalists in the second round of the Race to the Top competition. The winners will share the $3.4 billion remaining in the Race to the Top fund after the first round. According to the August 24th USDE press release, the 10 winning applicants “have adopted rigorous common, college-and career-ready standards in reading and math, created pipelines and incentives to put the most effective teachers in high-need schools, and all have alternative pathways to teacher and principal certification.” [More]
Author: Patsy Crawford | Posted: 29. July 2010 09:08
On July 27, 2010, Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced that, out of 36 applicants, 18 states and the District of Columbia were selected as finalists in the second round of the Race to the Top (RTT) competition. The 18 states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. [More]
Author: Ryan Paiva | Posted: 14. June 2010 07:16
Recent initiatives in education reflect national movement toward education reform as reflected in President Barack Obama’s blueprint for education reform and the U.S. Department of Education’s standards for the Race to the Top (RTT) competition. [More]
