ARPA-Ed: A Qualified Thumbs-Up
by Frederick M. Hess • Mar 2, 2012 at 9:32 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
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ShareSenator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) has proposed an "Education-ARPA," modeled on the famed Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The Obama administration has included a similar proposal, carving the dollars out of i3. Projected funding seems to hover in the $30 to $70 million range. (The proposals are cost neutral, meaning they'd be paid for by off-setting cuts.)
The idea intrigues me, but I've been as confused as most others about what ARPA-ED would look like or actually do. To try to get a clearer picture of what Sen. Bennet and the Obama administration have in mind, I invited the Senator and some key authorities over on Wednesday morning to explain it all at more length. The conversation included a public event, featuring Bennet; Jim Shelton, chief of ED's Office of Innovation and Improvement; John Easton, Director of the Institute for Education Sciences; and Ken Gabriel, the Deputy
