Education Reform Race To The Top

There are any number of actions the White House can take to enhance Americans competitiveness and secure a better future for American people, but few of them will make as much of a difference as improving the way we educate our child. Offering American children an outstanding education is one of our most fundamental — perhaps our most fundamental obligation as a country. And whether the White House meets that obligation not only reflects who we are as Americans, it will shape our future as a nation. Countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, and President Obama refuses to let that happen.

The Race To The Top Of Education

The race to the top of education is a national competition among states to improve schools. Over the past few months, the White House has seen such a positive response that today, the President is announcing a new intention to make a major new investment. the new investment into Education Reform is more than $1.3 Billion dollars.

After months of planning and preparation, the first round of Race to the Top applications is coming due today (January 19, 2010). And it’s a sign of how much states and schools believe this initiative will benefit them that the White House expects a significant increase.

Race To The Top Guidelines

Last year, President Obama set aside more than $4 billion dollars to improve schools. That’s one of the largest investments in reform in our nation’s history. States must compete for these funds. And it’s the competitive nature of this initiative that the White House believes helps makes “Race To The Top — Education Reform” work so effectively. The White House has laid out a few key criteria and said if you meet those test, the White House will reward you by helping you reform your school.

• First, states must adopt more challenging standards that will actually prepare American kids for college and their careers.
• Schools must adopt better assessments (not just one-size-fits-all). It should be a true measure of what kids know and what they are able to do.
• School districts must have excellent principals leading the schools and great teachers leading the classes by promoting rigorous plans to develop and evaluate teachers and principals by rewarding their success.
• States are to use cutting-edge data systems to track children progress throughout their academic career, and to link that child’s progress to their teachers.
• States must show a strong commitment to turn around some of their lowest-performing schools.

Four-eight states have now joined the Race To The Top Education Reform partnership.

Race to the Top Education Reform

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