Schools Chief Jack O'Connell Joins Governor, State Board of Education President to Sign California's Race to the Top Application
OMPTON — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and State Board of Education President Ted Mitchell today signed California's official application to enter the Race to the Top (RTTT) competition.
"We are united in signing an application that may qualify California for hundreds of millions of dollars designed to set the state on a bold, new path toward education reform," said O'Connell. "The Race to the Top application outlines how we intend to make systemic changes to our education system in order to accelerate the development of a highly skilled workforce, fuel future innovations, and maintain California's standing as a leading world economy. I am proud of the policies contained in this application and the work that went into the development of the plan, and feel confident that we are delivering a highly competitive application to the U.S. Department of Education."
RTTT is part of the federal stimulus package of bills known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. President Barack Obama and U. S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced last November the eligibility and selection criteria for states to compete for $4.35 billion in the RTTT competition, which is the single largest pool of discretionary funding for education reform in U.S. history.
California's application spells out how the state and participating local educational agency partners will collaborate in unprecedented ways to make systemic changes to help accelerate growth in student achievement and improve public education in four key focus areas:
- Refining California's rigorous state standards by adopting internationally benchmarked common core standards and aligned assessments that better prepare students for success in college and the workplace;
- Recruiting, developing, and retaining effective teachers and principals in all schools, with particular attention to those schools that need them the most;
- Expanding our education data system to support instruction and better measure student success in college and the workforce; and
- Dramatically improving the state's persistently lowest-performing schools.
To date, 804 local educational agencies (LEAs) submitted a signed Memorandum of Understanding to partner with California in the RTTT competition. Here are the latest figures on California's local participating partners:
Type | Participating LEAs | Statewide | Percentage of Total Statewide |
|---|---|---|---|
LEAs | 804 | 1,729 | 46.5% |
Schools | 5,755 | 10,225 | 56.3% |
K-12 Students | 3,645,963 | 6,252,031 | 58.3% |
Students in poverty | 1,991,399 | 3,271,334 | 60.9% |
Of the 804 LEAs, 457 are school districts or county offices of education, 345 are charter schools, and two are Regional Occupational Programs. Of the total number of MOUs, 602, or 78 percent, were signed by the LEA's superintendent and school board president; and 122, or 26 percent, included a signature by the LEAs teachers' union leader.
For more information on Race to the Top, please visit Race to the Top (Outside Source)..