Race To The Top...
Largest Competitive Investment In School Reform
When President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), a part of this legislation included a focus on education. The ARRA allotted $4.3 Billion for the “Race to the Top"(RT3) fund. What is the Race to the Top? Simply put, it is a competitive grant fund that rewards school districts for developing comprehensive reform plans addressing four reform areas designed to improve student achievement. Areas to be looked at are: making substantial gains in student achievement, closing achievement gaps, improving high school graduation rates, and ensuring student preparation for college and careers.
Additionally, the program is seeking improvement in:
♦Adopting standards and assessment that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy.
♦Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and informing teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction.
♦Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most.
♦Turning around our struggling schools.
The program requires each state that is interested to submit a proposal for how they will continue to improve the education in their state. Missouri, along with about 40 other states, submitted our proposal in the middle of January. While we do not yet know if we will be one of the states selected to participate in the RT3 program’s first round or not, we do know that most school districts in Missouri agreed to at least consider the possibility. The Warren County R-III School District was one of the districts that sent in a preliminary indication that we would participate.
The RT3 program will carry significant extra funding from Washington. During these economic times we felt it was necessary to at least consider pursuing the funds. What we don’t yet know is what will be required of districts that participate. It is possible that the requirements will not mesh with our Board of Education defined goals. If that is the case we have reserved the right to decline to participate. This is a major educational program that you will see mentioned in the news with some frequency. We will update you of the status of our application as more information becomes available.
