Special stimulus funds come with plenty of strings attached
Published: July 28, 2009
The U.S. Department of Education on Friday released draft priorities and requirements for states planning to apply for $4.35 billion in “Race to the Top” funds, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The department will accept public comment on the 81-page Notice of Proposed Priorities for 30 days following its official publication in the Federal Register, which is expected to occur this week. A draft notice is posted at www.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop.
The priorities challenge states to address four central areas of reform in their application for the funds:
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adopting internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace
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recruiting, developing, retaining, and rewarding effective teachers and principals
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building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices
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turning around our lowest-performing schools
States are also required to have approved applications under both phases of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund program, as well as “no statutory or regulatory barriers to linking data about student growth and achievement to teachers for the purposes of teacher and principal evaluation.”
The prohibition against barriers to evaluating teachers based on student performance concerned California officials, especially after President Obama specifically criticized the state during a press conference announcing the draft priorities.
“As [Education Secretary] Arne [Duncan] has pointed out in the past,” Obama said Friday, “they have 300,000 teachers in California. The top 10 percent are 30,000 of the best that are out there. The bottom 10 percent are 30,000 of the worst out there. The problem is, we have no way to tell which is which.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell immediately countered that he believes the perception that California law prohibits the use of assessment data to evaluate teachers is a “misunderstanding.”
“California law does not prevent any school district from using the state's student assessment results for purposes of evaluation or compensation. It only prohibits the use of this data to evaluate individual teachers at the state level. This is simply a matter of local control that appropriately ensures school districts handle their own personnel decisions,” O’Connell said in a statement released following Obama’s comments.
O’Connell has pledged to seek further clarification from federal officials and stressed that California will apply for Race to the Top funds, as well as a variety of other new federal stimulus programs.
According to the Obama administration’s proposed priorities, preference will be given to states that do the best job of addressing the four education reform areas, as well as those that have a comprehensive plan for emphasizing science, technology, engineering and mathematics instruction. A third set of “invitational” priorities will favor states that respond to specific administration goals concerning longitudinal data systems, programmatic coordination and alignment from preschool through higher education, and “school-level conditions for reform and innovation.”
Further details, including those required “internationally benchmarked standards and assessments” and references supporting the administration’s call for use of assessment data in teacher evaluation are included in the notice, which is to be published this week in the Federal Register.
Related links:
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Read the Notice of Proposed Priorities, a transcript of the president’s remarks, and reference other Race to the Top resources @
www.ed.gov
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