The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) provides $4.35 billion for the Race to the Top Fund, a competitive grant program designed to encourage and reward States that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform; achieving significant improvement in student outcomes, including making substantial gains in student achievement, closing achievement gaps, improving high school graduation rates, and ensuring student preparation for success in college and careers; and implementing ambitious plans in four core education reform areas:

• Adopting internationally-benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace;
• Recruiting, developing, retaining, and rewarding effective teachers and principals;
• Building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices; and
• Turning around our lowest-performing schools.

The Department recently distributed a summary of the draft guidance and requirements of the Federal Race to the Top grant and a PowerPoint presentation that provides insight into the discussion and ideas that the Florida Department of Education is preliminarily considering in its application for this grant. While charter schools should expect to benefit along with all public schools from the reforms proposed for standards and assessment, data systems to support instruction, and great teachers and leaders, it is hoped that their most prominent role in the application will be in turning around struggling schools and providing high quality options to the students assigned to struggling schools.

Please review the information we sent and provide any input that you might have into helping Florida with educational ideas that will drive up student achievement throughout the state and meet the assurances set forth by the grant proposal.

More information about the grant is available in the US Department of Education’s Race to the Top Executive Summary.

* Required Field