Race to the Top
Survey highlights of Washington teachers and voters about Race to the Top and education reform:
- ESN Poll: What Washington Teachers Think About ”Race to the Top” Issues
- PFL Poll: Survey of Washington voters on education reform and Race to the Top
- ESN and PFL Side-by-Side Findings
Washington State has a tremendous opportunity to compete for its share of the $4.3 billion Race to the Top funds. These funds are part of the federal stimulus package and are specifically designed to drive education reform across the country.
In our pursuit for Race to the Top, Washington will make changes that will help ensure every child is ready for college, work and life. We must make progress in four education reform areas:
- standards and assessments;
- improving teacher effectiveness and achieving equity in teacher distribution;
- improving collection and use of data; and
- supporting struggling schools.
And, in these challenging economic times, it is fiscally irresponsible to ignore the possibility of significant financial support from the federal government.
In the News
- Publicola: State Schools Superintendent Randy Dorn Pushes for Teacher Evaluation Amendments (2/22/10)
- Seattle Times: State Senate approves governor’s Race to the Top bill unchanged (2/11/10)
- Tacoma News Tribune: Gregoire hopes to ‘Race to the Top’ with teachers unions pushing, not dragging (1/19/10)
- Spokesman-Review: State must race to make changes to win funds (1/15/10)
- Associated Press: Governor’s plan for school reform shared (1/14/10)
- Seattle Times: Editorial: Win or lose, Race to the Top worth it for state’s students (11/13/09)
- Tacoma News Tribune: Editorial: Race to the top in education? Who, us? (11/16/09)
- Education Week: Rules Set for $4 Billion ‘Race to Top’ Contest (11/11/09)
Resources
League of Education Voters Foundation
- Using Stimulus to Drive Change: Opportunities for Washington State
- LEV’s presentation on Race to the Top at the WASA/ WASBO/ OSPI conference, September 29-30, 2009
- Program Fact Sheet (Department of Education)
- Final Guidelines for the “Race to the Top” grant competition (Department of Education)
- Race to the Top Program: Major Changes (Department of Education)
- Press Release: President Obama, U.S. Secretary of Education Duncan Announce National Competition to Advance School Reform (Department of Education)
- Analysis of Washington State’s Opportunity to Race to the Top (LEV)
- The case for including early education in Race to the Top (Buffet Early Childhood Fund et al)
U.S. Department of Education website
- Webcast Overview of ARRA (Department of Education)
- PowerPoint Overview of ARRA (Department of Education)
- Alert Memorandum: Potential Consequences of the Maintenance of Effort Requirements under the ARRA State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (Sept. 2009)
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund
- Program Fact Sheet (Department of Education)
- Applicant information, including initial guidance (Department of Education)
- Washington State’s Approved Application, phase 1 (Department of Education)
- Guidelines for the second round of State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Grants (Department of Education)
Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems
- Program Fact Sheet (Department of Education)
- Washington State’s 2009 Grant Application Overview, awarded June 2009 (National Center for Education Statistics)
- Project Abstract (National Center for Education Statistics)
- Project Application (National Center for Education Statistics)
- Guidelines for the Grant Program for Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (Department of Education)
- Program Fact Sheet (Department of Education)
Investing in Innovation
- Program Fact Sheet (Department of Education)
State Educational Technology Grants
- Program Fact Sheet (Department of Education)
- Guidance on Enhancing Education through Technology (Ed Tech) Program Funds Made Available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Department of Education)
School Improvement Fund (Title I)
- Program Fact Sheet (Department of Education)
- Guidelines for Using Title I ARRA Funds for Grants to Local Education Agencies (Department of Education)
- Examples of Successful Efforts in Using School Improvement Grants (Department of Education)
- Press Release: Obama Administration Announces Historic Opportunity to Turn Around Nation’s Lowest-Achieving Public Schools (Department of Education)
- PowerPoint about School Improvement Grants (Department of Education)
- Interpreting “Race to the Top” (ranks 50 states based on competitivess for Race to the Top funding)
