Winners of the second round of the Investing in Innovation (i3) Grant Program were announced Thursday, with 23 winners selected from a pool of 587 applicants. For this round of the competition, $150 million was available to applicants who are able to secure a private match for a portion of Read more
The time of reckoning has arrived: winners of the Race to the Top competition have entered the season where they must make good on their promises to link teacher evaluation with student performance. This process is not easy, given the volatile debates that are taking place nation-wide surrounding this issue. Read more
Last week the Department of Education released the proposed requirements for the new round of Race to the Top (RTT) grants (not to be confused with the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge, which is a separate competition). This year, $200 million is up for grabs, with only Read more
The Department of Education has invited states and schools who were awarded a School Improvement Grant (SIG) to take some extra time to figure out the most crucial component: teacher evaluation. All of the schools and states eligible for the waiver are using the most popular, and arguably least rigorous, Read more
The Early Education Initiative (EEI), part of the New America Foundation, has compiled a wealth of data in an attempt to identify front-runners and possible contenders for the Department of Education’s Race to the Top—Early Learning Challenge grant competition. The data analyzed for all 50 states plus the District of Read more
The Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grant applications became available August 23, causing a flurry of activity across the country. The purpose of RTT-ELC is to increase the quality of early childhood education in order to help close the achievement gap for low-income and disadvantaged children. Read more
Ten years and $5 billion into his philanthropic push for school reform, Bill Gates is doing some soul-searching. “It’s been about a decade of learning,” he says, and acknowledges that education isn’t only a civil rights issue but also “an equity issue and an economic issue…It’s so primary. In inner-city, Read more
The U.S. Department of Education announced that $150 million will be available for the next round of Investing in Innovation (i3) grants to continue support for evidence-based practices in education. Individual school districts, groups of districts, and nonprofits in partnership with districts or a consortium of schools are invited to Read more
The nine finalist states that did not win grants in the first two rounds of Race to the Top will be eligible to compete for $200 million in additional funds this year. Applications will be available this fall. The states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Read more
In a typical year (without a stimulus bill), the federal Department of Education has about $20 million in discretionary funds. In 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave away over $373 million to education, the Walton Foundation gave approximately $134 million, and the Broad Foundation about $39 million. Education Read more
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has released the Department’s first report on the revamped School Improvement Grants (SIG) program, “Baseline Analyses of SIG Applications and SIG-Eligible and SIG-Awarded Schools.” This baseline report provides an overview of the state policies and practices for SIG implementation as well as a description Read more
A new interactive map from Education Sector looks closely at the 843 schools that have been selected as school improvement grantees so far, and how they are spending the money. Schools improvement grantees can receive $6 million per school over a three-year period. The combined grants are expected to serve Read more
The White House has opened applications to the 2011 Race to the Top Commencement Challenge. Students from public high schools across the country are invited to demonstrate how their school prepares them for college and a career by going to www.whitehouse.gov/commencement and submit an application. The winning school will host Read more
Next Generation Learning Challenges, funded by the Gates Foundation, announced a new round of challenge grants that will provide up to $10 million to expand promising technology tools and applications that help more students master seventh- through ninth-grade math and literacy competencies, which are critical to college and career readiness. Read more
Want to obtain grant funding from the Department of Education in 2011? The December 15 Federal Register included the Department’s notice of final supplemental priorities and definitions for discretionary grant programs for 2011. Find out NOW where your project “fits” so you can be sure to apply for any applicable Read more