October 2009 Archives

UPDATE: The wait for the first stimulus reports is over. Recovery.gov now has an updated interactive map, plenty of statistics and charts, and spreadsheets available for download. You could spend hours clicking on the dots on the interactive maps, trying to make sense of it all--and if you do see anything noteworthy, please leave a comment. I'll be digging through this data for a story next week, so check back here for updates. In the meantime, catch up on what VP Joe Biden had to say about the stimulus package in my earlier post below.

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While we're waiting for the first quarterly stimulus spending reports to be posted online later today, we'll have to take Vice President Joe Biden's word for how successful the program's been.

In a press conference today, Biden said 640,239 jobs have been created or saved as a direct result of the economic-stimulus package. Of those, 325,000 were jobs in education. The spending reports, which are supposed to be online sometime between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., will detail not just information about jobs saved, but also how states spent the first dollars of the stimulus package.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who appeared with Biden, said California has used the $7.1 billion in education stimulus funds it's received so far to save 62,000 education-related jobs. That's more than half of the 100,000 jobs in all sectors that the stimulus package has saved in California, according to the governor. (In total, the state has gotten $12.5 billion of its $50 billion in stimulus money so far.)

"Those teachers would have been gone if it hadn't been for the stimulus money," the Republican governor said.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's numbers weren't nearly as impressive (given how small Maryland is compared to California.) The Democratic governor, who also appeared with Biden, said the stimulus has saved 14,000 jobs so far in that state. He didn't spell out how many of those were education jobs.

UPDATE: Also worth noting is that union leaders--including the AFT's Randi Weingarten and the NEA's Dennis Van Roekel--were in attendance. In fact, NEA member Richard Bigelow, a teacher at Stonewall Jackson Middle School in Orlando, Fla., got a starring role in the video the White House showed before the press conference began. You can watch the video, which is, predictably, a rah-rah stimulus montage:

Posted by Michele McNeil at 5:59 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Tomorrow, the public will get its first look at how states, school districts, and other recipients of federal stimulus funding have spent the first dollars from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act . The first quarterly spending reports will be posted on Recovery.gov sometime in the morning.

As you peruse the reports, would you email me or leave a comment if you see anything noteworthy? We'll be combing through them trying to figure out what it all means.

Already, news reports are calling into question just how accurate the reporting will be, particularly when it comes to estimating the number of jobs saved or created because of the stimulus package. This is particularly important for education, because the data already shows that teaching jobs are some of the biggest beneficiaries.

The White House tried to get out in front of the news, declaring earlier this month, before the reports were made public, that the stimulus saved 250,000 education jobs so far. But local media reports, including one in The Indianapolis Star, described how misleading those numbers could be. Yesterday, the Associated Press did an in-depth examination of the jobs reported in the first data that was released, from contractors who received federal stimulus money—and declared that the number of jobs saved was overstated by thousands. The White House, which clearly has a dog in this hunt, quickly fired back and slammed the story, providing a fact-check of its own.

Given how politically charged these jobs numbers are, the reports out tomorrow will be heavily scrutinized by all sides. Although the feds tried to give hard-and-fast rules on how to count the number of jobs saved or created, people in different states and agencies had to use their own interpretation in applying the rules. And so there's plenty of room for error.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said little new today at an event at the Center for American Progress, which released a new report calling for more attention and money for community schools--and pointing to successes in Britain as a model. (The EdSec did like the British idea of knighting the best teachers to raise the prestige of the profession. Maybe he'll start a "knighthood campaign," he said.)

The real star was Great Britain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who spearheaded efforts to bring the community schools idea to his country. By 2010, his country's 23,000 public schools are on track to become "extended schools," which means they must be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. throughout the year and provide a community and education base for residents.

Blair tackled a myriad of topics, including:

Teachers unions--"You have to share a partnership, but we should refuse a veto." (In other words, teachers unions can't have the final say on education policy.)

What a good school looks like--"The school should become a center for the support and nurture of the future generation and a hub for the whole community."

Tough changes--"I never regretted a bold move, and I always regretted a cautious one."

Education as more than just a policy--"It's a national mission."

Posted by Michele McNeil at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Way back in the spring, my colleague Christina Samuels wrote this story about how the U.S. Department of Education is taking a hard line with districts that aren't meeting the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Apparently, districts that aren't in compliance with the IDEA have to make sure they target special education dollars made available under the stimulus package to improving their programs for students with disabilities. They can't reduce their own contributions, as they normally would be able to under the law, now that the federal share has increased.

It's a very complex, technical issue, but one that has major implications for both school districts' spending and services to students in special education. And it doesn't seem to be going away. The Education Department just put out this letter spelling out its position on the issue. According to Christina's story, advocates for districts say this interpretation wasn't Congress' intent. But the department is clearly not backing down.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

If you haven't already, you should check out my colleague Erik Robelen's story about education in this off-year election. He points out that the very tight races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia will help shed some light on how well the Democratic brand is faring, now that the party is in charge of practically everything and the economy is still slumping. The New Jersey race is close, according to these recent polls. And the GOP has an edge, according to this one from Virginia.

Although it might not seem so on the surface, those gubernatorial races may matter quite a bit in terms of the Obama administration's education priorities. If Democrats Gov. Jon Corzine, of New Jersey, and state Sen. Creigh Deeds, of Virginia, lose badly, the election will be read by some as a rebuke of President Barack Obama.

And that may mean Democrats in Congress, who are worried about their own electoral futures, will be less likely to go along with some of Obama's priorities (like, say, merit pay) that might anger folks who members of Congress will need to get re-elected (like teachers' unions).

Bottom line: If Dems win in both states, it will likely be a lot easier for the Obama folks to sell their ideas on health care, student loans, and the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act to Congress. If not...maybe not.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

John White, who was hired in May to be the press secretary for the U.S. Department Education, has left that post and is now the deputy assistant secretary for rural outreach.

Peter Cunningham, the chief public relations strategist for Education Secretary Arne Duncan, told me that the press office was "overstaffed." (Really? I can come up with plenty more things for them to do, if needed!)

Rural outreach is an area where the department, which has been criticized for overlooking the rural perspective on issues, certainly needs some help. And, so, White is filling a void, said Cunningham, who is officially the assistant secretary for communications and outreach. He added: "Arne's not a rural guy. I'm not a rural guy." (I'm not sure White, who is a former spokesman for Prince George's County Public Schools, is a "rural guy" either, but lots of folks will stand ready to school him in all things rural.)

Cunningham (who is, like his boss, a Chicago guy) also said this is part of a broader strategy to improve outreach as reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act approaches. "The media is critically important, but outreach is where you build support for the agenda."

He noted that he has department staffers who specialize in outreach to associations, to other government entities, now to the rural schools, and he's hiring someone from Los Angeles to tackle outreach at the community level.

As a result of White's departure from the press office, deputy press secretaries Sandra Abrevaya and Justin Hamilton have been promoted and will be sharing the title of press secretary. That also means they're graduating from cubicle offices to a real office, although they'll have to share it.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

In honor of National School Lunch Week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited D.C. Prep Edgewood Elementary and Middle School Campuses in northeast Washington, D.C., last week, touting the department's "Fueled and Fit: Ready to Learn" campaign. He'll be making other school stops in the coming weeks as part of this initiative to promote nutrition and fitness.

So, this seems like a fitting time to resurrect the photo above, which features Arne's lunch tray during a May stop at a West Virginia school. These foods, while likely mainstays of school cafeterias, sure look like they'd make a good example of what not to eat. But then again, the lunch could be healthier than it looks, and I'm not sure I can even identify all of the foods. I see ketchup and mustard, a carrot-and-bean salad, perhaps, and definitely onion rings. But is his main course a steak sandwich? And what's next to it, potatoes? (Click on the photo to enlarge it.) UPDATE: Eagle-eyed commenter Stafford has made a convincing case that my "potatoes" are actually a peach or apple cobbler.

(Photo: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan adds ketchup to his lunch with students at Eagle School in Martinsburg, W.Va., on May 5, 2009. Alex Brandon/AP)

Posted by Michele McNeil at 4:42 PM | Permalink | 3 Comments | Recommend

Over at GothamSchools, Elizabeth Green has a great post about one of President Obama's former education advisers who, during a panel discussion today, brought a dose of skepticism about the administration's education reform strategy.

Though Christopher Edley, the dean of the law school at University of California, Berkeley, praised Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan for putting education reform on the national discussion agenda, he also asked some thought-provoking questions. Among them:

—Is the Obama administration relying too heavily on competition—for money and students—to spur change?

—And, shouldn't the administration be doing more to regulate schools?

Read more here.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

$16.5 billion.

That's the amount of money that 36 states combined will need to find, somewhere, to get back to their 2008 K-12 funding levels after stimulus money runs out. That amounts to about 10 percent of these 36 states' combined budgets, according to my own calculations of figures presented in a White House report out yesterday on the impact of the stimulus package on education jobs.

This is the funding cliff that states and school districts have been warned about.

States will need to replace this money at a time when the national economy only now is showing glimmers of a recovery, and state tax collections are still tanking by record amounts. Of course, when it comes time for states to write their budgets for fiscal 2011 and beyond, they have the ability to move money around, or rob other programs to help fill in K-12 budget gaps. But will there be enough money to go around? Looking at the size of these gaps, probably not.

Some states have a bigger cliff than others. California wows with its sheer dollar amount. Its fiscal 2010 K-12 state spending is $32.9 billion, or 14 percent less than it was two years ago. ($5 billion in stimulus money filled in that gap.) But proportionately, other states are in just as bad, or worse, shape.

Oregon reduced state funding by half-a-billion dollars in fiscal 2010, or 16 percent below fiscal 2008 levels. Illinois reduced its state contribution to education this fiscal year by nearly $600 million, or 14 percent. Utah reduced its contribution by $300 million, or 13 percent, below 2008 levels. All of those holes were filled, or will be filled, with money from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, the largest single chunk of stimulus money available to states for education.

As state policymakers face frightening budget gaps, folks are getting desperate. In Kentucky, state legislators are considering raiding the "rainy day" funds of individual school districts, which includes money raised from local property taxes. That's unprecedented in the state--and maybe in the country.

A recent report by the Education Department's inspector general called attention to this problem, maintaining that the real effect of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund was to reduce a state's own funding contribution to schools, rather than prod states to invest more in K-12 education. Even the IG, however, acknowledged this was allowable under the law.

In a White House press briefing yesterday, Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes acknowledged the funding cliff. But she had no solution for those states that are quickly approaching a steep funding drop-off. Here's the relevant Q-and-A.

Q ... When this money, the federal dollars from the Reinvestment and Recovery Act, run out, will it then be up to the states to come up with the revenue to keep these jobs in operation?

MS. BARNES: That's something that we were quite cognizant of when we were putting the [stimulus law] together. We wanted to make sure that we were stimulating the economy, and at the same time, that we would be able to sustain the increases that were on track. I mean, all of this, remember, is to be put in the context of the economy starting to come back, for states to be able to support these jobs and to support the increases that have been put on the table. So the idea was to provide that shot, as I also mentioned, to start to provide and to incentivize the kinds of reforms that we wanted to see moving forward, but not to fall off a cliff when the two-year period was over.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 3:07 PM | Permalink | 3 Comments | Recommend

A new report out from the White House Domestic Policy Council estimates that the stimulus package has saved or created 250,000 education jobs so far—most of them probably teachers. (UPDATE: And a good chunk of them are from California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reported today that 62,204 of these education jobs, or nearly 25 percent of the estimated total, were saved or created in his state.)

The White House has the distinct advantage of being able to look at the first quarterly stimulus reports that states and other recipients of stimulus funds filed with the federal government before anyone else. The rest of us get to look at the reports when they're made public on Recovery.gov Oct. 30.

Even so, much of the 23-page report rehashes data from the already public applications states submitted to gain access to their stabilization funds—data that shows most states said they would use the money to backfill cuts they made, or were going to make, to K-12 education. The White House also drew on anecdotal reports from the media to highlight jobs that were saved in specific school districts. In a press release, the White House says that the stimulus package has enabled states to restore nearly all of their projected education budget shortfalls for fiscal 2009 and 2010. Of course, things are still projected to get much worse for states, based on latest tax collections data.

In the press release, Education Secretary Arne Duncan says: "Early feedback from states also tells us that many districts are using stimulus dollars in ways that will move us beyond the status quo."

Given that most of the money has so far been used to get state K-12 funding levels up to the status quo, it will be most interesting to see what states and school districts report spending their money on. (UPDATE 2: Read Andy Smarick's take on this issue, too.)

Posted by Michele McNeil at 10:43 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

So the Kevin Jennings controversy is just not going away. The latest? A group of 53 House Republicans has signed a letter to President Barack Obama calling for Jennings, who heads up the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education, to resign.

The letter, which is posted here, reads in part:

The totality of Mr. Jennings' career has been to advocate for public affirmation of homosexuality. There is more to safe and drug free schools than can be accomplished from the narrow view of Mr. Jennings, who has, for more than 20 years, almost exclusively focused on promoting the homosexual agenda.

The letter goes on to reference an incident that occurred more than two decades ago, when Mr. Jennings was a high school teacher. A sophomore told him he had gone home with an older man he met in a bus station. Jennings said he told the boy, "I hope you knew to use a condom."

Jennings has since referenced the incident in a speech to the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, which he founded. So far, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has stood by Jennings, "honored to have him on our team." And some education groups, including the National Association of School Psychologists, also have come to his defense.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is giving a speech tomorrow at the National Association of State Boards of Education that will focus on the state-federal role in education.

The issue has flared up recently, particularly in the department's handling of the $4 billion Race to the Top program, which is meant to reward states for making major progress in certain areas, including standards and assessments, teacher quality, data systems, and turning around low performing schools. Some folks say this is a lot of federal direction, even for a voluntary program.

But in the speech, Duncan will explain that the feds do have an important role to play in encouraging states that are ready to adopt what he considers promising practices by providing them with some extra resources and know-how.

And he has some great new lines (thank goodness, because "dramatically better" is getting pretty stale). Here's a particularly punchy paragraph that gets to the heart of his message:

I want to be a partner in your success, not the boss of it. But I'm not willing to be a silent partner who puts a stamp of approval on the status quo. I plan to be an active partner. As a nation, we need a federal voice encouraging our shared goal of success for every student and stimulating innovations to reach those goals. But I'm also mindful of this. For nearly 200 years, our federal government was a silent partner. It mostly sat on the sideline while a shameful achievement gap persisted.

It's important to note that the state board of education president has to sign on to a state's Race to the Top application, under proposed criteria for this competition. So this speech could be a way for Duncan to get some buy-in from them.

Check out the full speech for yourself here.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

A new report out by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government makes it clear that states are still in big fiscal trouble, having experienced a record drop in sales tax for the second quarter in a row.

While the recession may be slowing, and the nation may even be recovering, clearly states are in this economic slowdown for the long haul. My co-blogger Alyson is working on a story about this for our next issue, and I'll link to it as soon as it's finished.

For education, this persistent bad economic news at the state level means that the stimulus-generated funding cliff that states and school districts have been warned about is not just a threat, but a reality.

States have had a tough time making do even with some $40 billion in state stabilization stimulus funds, as many states have used this money to backfill cuts and free up money to balance other parts of their budgets. In 2011, that money officially runs out, which will make balancing budgets--and maintaining K-12 funding levels -- extremely difficult.

This has implications for the competitive grant programs, such as Race to the Top, as well. Pushing through education reforms can take a lot of political will at the state level. But so does balancing budgets. Will there be enough political will to go around?

What's more, award money from Race to the Top may seem mighty tempting for a cash-strapped state. The $4 billion competitive fund isn't nearly as large as the state stabilization fund, and would likely amount to a few hundred millions of dollars for each winning state, but it's still valuable money for a financially strapped state. While states certainly will have to agree to make good on their Race to the Top promises, policymakers in states that win an award might be inclined to reduce education funding elsewhere in light of the extra money coming in from the U.S. Department of Education. After all, we're seeing a similar phenomenon now, with criticisms of how states are using state stabilization funds.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 12:38 PM | Permalink | 3 Comments | Recommend

Just because California has removed its teacher-student data fire wall, thereby making itself eligible to compete for Race to the Top Fund grants, that doesn't mean the state is a shoe-in for the money.

In fact, it seems that Education Secretary Arne Duncan is trying to temper expectations by building a larger narrative that any changes prompted by Race to the Top also could put states in better position for other stimulus-related education grant competitions. After all, the Education Department realizes it can't give $4 billion in Race to the Top money to every state. (But, it's worth pointing out that California was often singled out by Duncan for having the firewall, and did act swiftly to get rid of it.)

"This is a piece of a much larger package," he said in a phone interview today, pointing to some $10 billion in discretionary funds under the stimulus program, such as the school-improvement grants, or the "i3" innovation grants.

And, in specifically speaking about California and other states that have made changes to put themselves in better position for Race to the Top, Duncan tried to downplay the motivation behind these changes: the money. "This money is going to be gone two to four years from now. This is a victory for schoolchildren," he said.

But for cash-strapped states, it is also about the money.

Earlier this year, when I traveled with Duncan in Florida, he said that one of the reasons he peeled off $350 million from the Race to the Top Fund to award to states for common assessments was to spread the stimulus love around -- to give states that may not be competitive for Race to the Top grants a shot at some stimulus prize money.

Clearly, Duncan & Crew are cognizant that states will need to be rewarded, one way or another, for their education-reform efforts. And he has a large portfolio of award money with which to work. Still, the department has successfully made Race to the Top the most prestigious education stimulus prize of them all.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 4:56 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

So I'm sure all you politics geeks out there have heard by now that Rep. Mike Castle, a Republican, is going to run for the Senate seat in Delaware that became vacant when Sen. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. became Vice President Joe Biden. Sen. Edward E. Kaufman, a Democrat, is keeping the seat warm for now, but no one expects him to stick around.

Although the initial statements from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee play up some of Castle's more conservative stances, he is generally considered a moderate's moderate. In fact, after the Dems took over Congress in 2006, Democratic strategist James Carville called Castle a "caucus of one," since he was one of the few centrist Republicans left standing.

A former governor, Castle has an excellent grasp of K-12 issues. (Not every congressman can think on their feet about in-the-weeds-type issues like national standards.) He also seems to have a good working relationship with Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. If he leaves the House, and the committee, before reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is complete, that might lessen the chances that the new version of the ESEA would be bipartisan.

Will education be an issue in next year's Senate race? Hard to say. Castle's likely opponent is Biden's son, Beau Biden, who is Delaware's attorney general. When it comes to education, Castle's views aren't really all that different from the Obama administration's, at least on sticky issues like merit pay. And it's hard to see Beau Biden dissing the policies his father (and his father's boss) support. There just might not be enough of a contrast to generate debate.

If Castle wins, the Obama administration may have one more Republican who would cooperate with it on education issues in the Senate. Castle would probably team up with fellow Republican Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee ... so at least on school issues, he'd no longer be a caucus of one.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

While California takes a final step toward becoming eligible for Race to the Top funding, neighboring Nevada seems to be doing the opposite. A state that makes its living on gambling has become what's probably the first state to excuse itself from at least the first round of the Race to the Top competition. Maybe the state is betting it can do better in the final round?

In a weekend story, state officials in Nevada appear to display little resolve to change a law pushed by teachers' unions several years ago that blocks the use of student achievement data in decisions about teacher evaluations. If you remember, having such a law would make a state ineligible to compete for Race to the Top funds, according to draft guidelines proposed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan & Crew.

Though Nevada has experienced some of the nation's toughest budget woes, some in the state say they aren't that desperate for money.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 11:38 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

I spent the last few days in Colorado, one of the nerdier states when it comes the Race to the Top competition, talking to state officials and other stakeholders about what the state is doing to get its grant application ready.

States will be judged partly on the extent to which they have community buy-in for their ideas, according to the U.S. Department of Education's draft regulations on the Race to the Top program. Colorado is taking that part of the application very seriously. They have invited anyone in the state who is interested to have a voice in the process.

So far, about 650 people have participated in some capacity, either by attending one of a series of meetings, or by joining a working group (they have four, each one focused around a different one of the "assurances" spelled out in the stimulus law, which include turning around low-performing schools, data systems, standards and assessments, and teacher quality). Believe it or not, there are actually K-12 students at these meetings, along with the usual suspects (teachers, parents, non-profits organizers).

But, of course, the ultimate authority for the application rests with the Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat who is likely to face an uphill re-election battle in this purple state.

Lt. Gov. Barbara O'Brien, also a Democrat, is the face of the state's Race to the Top efforts and has been extensively reaching out to community organizations. While I was out there, she spoke to a group of mayors about Race to the Top, for instance.

And next month, she plans to travel to some of the more remote districts that serve some of the neediest students in the state, to sell them on the state's proposals and get their input. A lot of the state's preliminary materials on the grant were developed with the goal of showing high-needs districts what's in it for them, a must in this local control state, where participation in RTTT activities is likely to be largely voluntary.

I asked O'Brien what she thought of the Gates Foundation's decision to give 15 states $250,000 to help with their applications. O'Brien joked that she thought the super-foundation must have felt those states needed assistance in putting together their applications, but knew Colorado would do just fine on its own.

"That's my story and I'm sticking to it," she said, laughing.

Gates recently opened up their grants to every state, as long as they meet certain criteria. Colorado hasn't yet decided whether to go after one of the grants-to-get-a-grant, O'Brien told me.

Ritter isn't the only Democrat in the Centennial state facing a potentially precarious re-election battle. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, the former superintendent of Denver Public Schools, may also have a tough time hanging onto his seat in 2010. Plus, Colorado is a swing state that President Barack Obama may need to win re-election. In fact, he traveled there to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which created Race to the Top.

I asked O'Brien whether she thought the political dynamics might improve Colorado's chances of winning a Race to the Top grant. Again, she responded by joking around, saying state officials are crossing their fingers, hoping that politics plays a part. But, she said, she's heard that the Department plans to select a non-partisan team to go over the applications, so she doesn't think that politics will be a major factor.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 1:50 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

The U.S. Department of Education did us all a favor by nicknaming the Investing in Innovation grants "i3" from the start. We're all clear on that.

But the education policy, blogging and Tweeting communities don't seem to have a common style for the stimulus program's other big discretionary grant program, Race to the Top. The department hasn't really given it a shorter name either. Should we abbreviate it RTTT? Or RTT? Or RttT? Those are three most common ways I've seen it.

So please vote, and let's all agree. If you have a different suggestion, leave a comment. I'll post the results in a week.

UPDATE: Commenter Denny thinks we should add R2T to the list of choices. If you agree, would you please leave a comment saying so?

UPDATE 2: Note that I changed the headline from "acronym" to "abbreviation" after learning from an editor that an acronym has to be pronounced as a word (and not just by its initials) to be a true acronym. NASA is an acronym. CIA is an abbreviation. However we abbreviate Race to the Top, it isn't likely to be pronounceable as a word.

UPDATE 3: Tom Luna, the state superintendent in Idaho, calls the program the RT3 Fund, which has the advantage of being easy to type and kind of matching the "i3" fund. So we'll start a "write-in" campaign for that, in the comments section.

What should we call Race to the Top for short?

RTT

RTTT

RttT

Posted by Michele McNeil at 10:51 AM | Permalink | 29 Comments | Recommend

The U.S. Department of Education has been vague about when the revised Race to the Top regulations will be done, and when applications for states will be available. Fall has been the consistent answer. And it still is. Keep in mind, though, that fall technically stretches well into December.

Well, this vagueness is giving the department some headaches.

Consider this blog post by former Gates Foundation education guru Tom Vander Ark last month, who passed along rumors that Race to the Top would be consolidated into one round from two.

And now, in California, where there's a bill awaiting the governor's signature that would eliminate a teacher-student data firewall that stands between the state and a piece of the $4 billion fund, a story from a subscription-based online resource called the Cabinet Report is circulating implying that the Race to the Top timing has been pushed back.

The Education Department assures me there are still going to be two rounds of Race to the Top, and that the final regulations will be done sometime in the fall.

The hold-up is that not only did the department get more than 1,000 comments on its Race to the Top guidelines, but federal bureaucracy (notably the arduous OMB clearance process), is at work.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Long-awaited details of the $650 million innovation grants for districts were finally announced today by the U.S. Department of Education.

The department, which will start accepting applications for the Investing in Innovation program, or "i3", in early 2010, had foreshadowed in August the dollar amounts for the grants (up to $50 million) and different tiers (which will based on how much evidence a program has to support the application). The stimulus law has already set out who the eligible applicants are: local school districts, and nonprofit entities (in partnership with one or more districts, or a consortium of schools.)

So let's start with what's new today.

Each application must include a 20 percent private-sector funding match (or request a reduced matching level), according to proposed regulations. In addition, any successful applicant must target the award toward improving achievement for "high-need" students and address at least one of the four "assurances" in the economic-stimulus law: improving teacher effectiveness, improving the use of data, turning around low-performing schools, or complementing the ongoing common standards and assessments effort. The proposed regulations define "high-need" as those who are at risk of academic failure, including those with disabilities or who are limited English proficient.

In addition, the department has established a "competitive" preference, or a slight edge, to grant applications that focus on early education, college access and success, special education and limited-English-proficient students, and rural school districts. (Rural school districts have to be happy to finally get some attention from the department.)

The seven criteria by which applications will be judged are: need for the project and quality of project design, strength of research (and significance and magnitude of effect), experience of the applicant, quality of how the project will be evaluated, strategy and capacity to scale up the program, sustainability, and quality of management plan and personnel. The department notes that the criteria may apply differently to different levels of grants.

Applications will be due in early spring of 2010, with all money awarded by Sept. 30, 2010.

Now, more on what Jim Shelton, the assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement, told us back in August.

The awards will be divided into three categories. "Development" grants will be up to $5 million, and must be linked to programs that have "reasonable research-based finding or theories". The goal will be to further develop and scale up these programs. Interestingly, the proposed regulations say there will be a pre-application process to narrow down the potential contenders; only some will be invited to make full "development" grant applications.

The second is "validation," up to $30 million for programs with "moderate" evidence, either "high internal validity" and "medium external validity" or vice versa. The programs must be able to be scaled up to the regional or state level.

The third, and more lucrative award, is the "scale up" grant of up to $50 million. These programs need "strong" evidence with both high internal and external validity and must be able to be scaled up to the national, regional, or state level.

Just what the Department means by "moderate" or "strong" evidence is detailed in the full proposed regulations document.

Read the proposed regulations here, and let me know what you think.

Posted by Michele McNeil at 2:00 PM | Permalink | 3 Comments | Recommend

Less than 24 hours after shooting hoops with Stephen Colbert and joking that fixing American education will make the comedian rich, Education Secretary Arne Duncan will get serious about innovation.

He's hosting a 2 p.m. media call with reporters to unveil more details about the innovation grants, or i3, that are funded from $650 million from the economic-stimulus package. These are competitive grants for school districts.

Stay tuned for live Tweets from the Politics K-12 Twitter feed during the media call.

And in the meantime, watch Duncan from last night's appearance on "The Colbert Report."

Posted by Michele McNeil at 8:56 AM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

Don't miss this: tonight at 11:30 p.m. EDT Education Secretary Arne Duncan will be on Comedy Central's Colbert Report. Can you help Alexander Russo over at This Week in Education think of questions and jokes Colbert can use on the EdSec?

Posted by Michele McNeil at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Happy Friday! Check out these good reads:

The always-vigilant Eduflack reports on the time-line for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, aka No Child Left Behind. Apparently, it's coming sooner than you think.

Edweek's own Steve Sawchuk of Teacher Beat fame reports on the House Education and Labor Committee's hearing on teacher quality. Apparently there were some back-and-forth between Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the panel's chairman, and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, plus some bipartisan support for the Teacher Incentive Fund, which doles out grants for performance pay programs. Check out the hearing for yourself here.

Speaking of teachers, Richard Whitmire and Andy Rotherham argue in the Wall Street Journal that the media has become skeptical of teachers' unions. Former newspaper columnist Joanne Jacobs doesn't dispute the idea. But Sherman Dorn isn't so sure.

Finally, the comment period on the School Improvement Grants closed Sept. 25. Check out the 300-plus comments here.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 1:08 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend

Kevin Jennings, was appointed to his job at the helm of the U.S. Department of Education's office of safe and drug free schools more than three months ago, amid criticism from some socially conservative groups that sought to derail the appointment. Now, some controversial statements he made years ago to a gay student are stirring up those critics once again.

Warren Throckmorton, a conservative psychology professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, and an independent blogger, recently posted an audio interview on his Web site, in which Jennings recounts that while he was a high school teacher he told a sophomore, who picked up an older man in a bus station and went home with him, that he hoped the student used a condom.

Jennings now said he wishes he had handled the situation differently.

"I should have asked for more information and consulted medical or legal authorities," Jennings said in a statement to the Associated Press in the wake of recent criticism. "Teachers back then had little training and guidance about this kind of thing. All teachers should have a basic level of preparedness. I would like to see the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools play a bigger role in helping to prepare teachers."

Still, some conservative-leaning news outlets have sharply criticized Jennings, including the Washington Times.

But Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has backed Jennings, telling the Associated Press that he's "honored to have [Jennings] on the team."

Alexander Russo posted a pretty interesting graphic on the subject here.

UPDATE: A lot of groups in the education community are throwing their support behind Jennings. The National Association of School Psychologists put out this statement. And Learning First has this supportive statement.

Posted by Alyson Klein at 12:16 PM | Permalink | 1 Comment | Recommend