President Obama today shared with the nation’s governors his plan to include college- and career-ready standards in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka No Child Left Behind).
Here are the bulleted policiesObama and his educrew would like to see integrated into ESEA:
- “Require all states to adopt and certify that they have college- and career-ready standards in reading and mathematics, which may include common standards developed by a state-led consortium, as a condition of qualifying for Title I funding.
- Include new funding priorities for states with college- and career-ready standards in place, as they compete for federal funds to improve teaching and learning and upgrade curriculum in reading and math. This priority applies to the President’s FY2011 budget request for new Effective Teaching and Learning programs in literacy ($450 million) and STEM ($300 million).
- Encourage states, schools districts, and other institutions to better align teacher preparation practices and programs to teaching of college and career-ready standards. This priority supports the President’s FY2011 budget request for a new Teacher and Leaders Pathways program ($405 million).
- Assist states in implementing assessments aligned with college- and career-ready standards, under a new Assessing Achievement program. The President’s FY2011 budget supports $400 million in state grants under this program.
- Support the expansion of the Race to the Top, beyond funding in the Recovery Act, to dedicate $1.35 billion in awards to states and school districts that have college- and career-ready standards in place as a condition of funding.
- Support professional development for teachers, leaders and other school instructional staff to better align instruction to college and career-ready standards. This supports the President’s FY2011 budget request for the Effective Teacher and Leaders state grant program ($2.5 billion).”
The big thing to note is the potential linkage of Title I funds to the adoption of college- and career-ready standards. For reference, Washington received $388.1 million in Title I funds in FY 2009(or roughly $776 million a biennium). This gels with previous statements and sentiments shared by the Obama adminstration that Race to the Top components will start to bleed into ESEA.
