U.S. Department of Education Announces Grantees for Race to the Top—District Competition and Investing in Innovation 2013 Competition

The U.S. Department of Education made recent award announcements about two programs: the Race to the Top-District (RTTT-D) program competition and the Investing in Innovation (i3) program competition. Five applicants were selected as grantees for the $120 Million Race to the Top—District competition, and the highest-rated applications secured match funding and became grantees for the 2013 Investing in Innovation competition.

Race to the Top-District Winners

The Race to the Top-District (RTTT-D) winners represent a range of districts, and 5 winning applicants have been chosen for four-year awards, which will vary from $4 million to $30 million depending on the population of students served through the plan.

The winners are:

• Clarendon County School District Two (consortium of four rural districts), South Carolina
• Clarksdale Municipal School District, Mississippi
• Houston Independent School District, Texas
• Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (consortium of 18 rural districts)
• Springdale School District, Arkansas

These winners demonstrate innovative work going on in rural school districts across the country to tailor education for all students and provide school leaders and teachers with key tools that support them in meeting students' needs.

The Race to the Top-District program will provide approximately $120 million to support locally developed plans to personalize and improve student learning, increase student achievement and educator effectiveness, close achievement gaps, and prepare every student for success in college and careers.

For more information on the Race to the Top-District (RTTT-D) program, click here.

Investing in Innovation Grantees

The 25 highest rated applications for the fourth round of Investing in Innovation (i3) program competition have secured private-sector matching funds and will be awarded approximately $134 million by the end of December to expand innovative practices designed to improve student achievement.

The grantees address a variety of issues, including four projects that focus on family and parent engagement; four grantees serving rural students and communities; and five projects focusing on Science, Technology, and Engineering, and Math (STEM) course content and instructional practices to increase student engagement and academic achievement.

For more information on Investing in Innovative Funds (i3) program, click here.

Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge Applicants Announced

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the states that submitted applications for the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC). Sixteen states and the District of Columbia submitted applications in this second round of the RTT-ELC, which provides funding to states to support their efforts to improve the quality of early learning and development programs and ensure that all children enter school ready for success.

The RTT-ELC focuses on five "key areas of reform":

• Successful State Systems
• High Quality, Accountable Programs
• Promoting Early Learning and Development Outcomes for Children
• A Great Early Childhood Education Workforce
• Measuring Outcomes and Progress

The applicants for this round of RTT-ELC include the following: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont.

Awards will range from $37.5 to $75 million over a period of four years.The winners of this latest round of RTT-ELC grants are expected to be announced in December 2013.

For complete details of this announcement, please visit the U.S. Department of Education's website here. If you would like to learn more about the various Race to the Top grant competitions and past awards, please view our past blog posts here.

Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge Application Released

Last week, the Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS) released the application for the Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grants for FY 2013. RTT-ELC will provide approximately $280 million in competitive grants to states, with the aim of ensuring that all children enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

Since the program’s inception in 2011, nine states have been awarded grants to improve young children’s access to high-quality early learning and development programs and to close educational gaps for children with high needs. The program also supports states’ efforts to integrate their early learning and development programs and services.

The RTT-ELC competition focuses on five key areas of reform:

• Establishing Successful State Systems by building on the state's existing strengths, ambitiously moving forward the state's early learning and development agenda and carefully coordinating programs across agencies to ensure consistency and sustainability beyond the grant;

• Defining High-Quality, Accountable Programs by creating a common tiered quality rating and improvement system that is used across the state to evaluate and improve program performance and to inform families about program quality;

• Promoting Early Learning and Development Outcomes for Children to develop common standards within the state and assessments that measure child outcomes, address behavioral and health needs, as well as inform, engage and support families;

• Supporting A Great Early Childhood Education Workforce by providing professional development, career advancement opportunities, appropriate compensation and a common set of standards for workforce knowledge and competencies; and

• Measuring Outcomes and Progress so that data can be used to inform early learning instruction and services and to assess whether children are entering kindergarten ready to succeed in elementary school.

Applications are due from state governors’ offices on October 16, 2013, and a technical assistance planning workshop will be offered on September 10, 2013. More details on the workshop will be posted here as they become available. Grant awards are expected to be announced in December and, according to ED, will range from $37.5 million up to $75 million.