Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Race to the Top - It's Not Just for States Anymore

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Race to the Top - It's Not Just for States Anymore:

Race to the Top - It's Not Just for States Anymore

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan just came out with a new idea for RTTT: allowing districts to compete as stand-alones (as opposed to just entire states competing). This is interesting because the most recent news on RTTT is that Hawaii was placed on a "high-risk" grant status and may have its award taken away. This is also the case in New York.

From Education Week:

"I think we'll use it for the districts," he said. "You can do different things. You can do early childhood as a piece of that, or STEM as a piece of that. ... I don't want to commit, but the bulk of the money will go through districts...what we'll be asking of districts is still very much up for consideration."


It's clear that Duncan sees the potential of investing a half-billion dollars in districts, especially in states that