Every Thursday, REL-NEI highlights state-based resources, press releases, and news around the Northeast and Islands Region related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). For a listing of REL Issues & Answers Reports categorized under ARRA topics and domains, click here.
Northeast & Islands Denied Race to the Top Grants
On Monday, March 29th, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced that Delaware and Tennessee were the sole winners of Phase 1 Race to the Top (RTTT) grants, leaving the Northeast & Islands Region’s three finalists—Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island—with only the hope of resubmission for Phase 2.
“We received many strong proposals from states all across America, but two applications stood out above all others: Delaware and Tennessee,” Duncan said in announcing the winners. “Both states have statewide buy-in for comprehensive plans to reform their schools. They have written new laws to support their policies. And they have demonstrated the courage, capacity, and commitment to turn their ideas into practices that can improve outcomes for students.”
Delaware will receive approximately $100 million and Tennessee $500 million from RTTT over the next four years. The U.S. Education Department (ED) has about $3.4 billion available for the second phase of the competition, with applications due June 1st. Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island were among 16 finalists who presented their proposals to panels of peer reviewers last month.
“We knew all along that this would be a competitive process, and that ours was not the only strong application submitted,” Massachusetts Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester said in a press release. “I am hopeful that we will be successful in Round 2, but regardless of the final outcome, we have benefitted from this process. We have a bold, forward-thinking plan that will help define our work going forward.”
New York Education Commissioner David Steiner issued a brief statement, saying the state will carefully analyze the ED reviewers’ comments and revisit its application before submission to Phase 2. “For the sake of our 3.1 million children, we cannot allow this critical opportunity to undertake vital reforms slip away,” he said.
Rhode Island earned 419 out of a possible 500 points on its application, placing it 8th out of the 16 finalists, reported The Providence Journal. Education Commissioner Deborah Gist had sought $126.6 million and told the Journal that “work will begin immediately to address the deficiencies in the state’s proposal.”
To learn more about the RTTT competition and the winning states’ education-reform proposals, read coverage in EdWeek.
In other RTTT news, the Maine Department of Education has developed a website dedicated to information about the state’s RTTT application, which it will submit for the first time for Phase 2. Maine also has detailed information on the web about the federal Title I School Improvement Grants (SIGs)— partially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)—including recordings and materials from two March webinars on the topic.
Hartford, Connecticut, on March 31st was the site of a youth roundtable and community forum hosted by ED's Director of Community Outreach Alberto Retana to discuss federal funding available to help the state turn around its lowest-performing schools. This spring, ED will award states a total of $3.5 billion in SIGs to turn around their lowest-performing schools, and Connecticut is eligible to receive $25.7 million.
On March 30th, Secretary Duncan announced the award of “$99.8 million for 12 new five-year Teacher Quality Partnership grants that aim to raise student achievement by improving instruction in our nation’s schools.” Funded by ARRA, the grants will be used to reform traditional teacher-preparation programs and create residency programs for people from other fields entering the teaching profession. Among the 12 winners are the Boston Plan for Excellence in Massachusetts, which will get $15 million for its teacher residency partnership with Boston Public Schools, and Lehman College in New York City, which was awarded $7.66 million for a project titled “Mathematics Achievement with Teachers of High-need Urban Populations.”
Also on March 30th, the Vermont Deputy Commissioner Rae Ann Knopf issued a memo seeking to explain the recent national emphasis on ranking schools as part of the SIG program. The state education department also posted several documents to clarify the recent ranking of the state’s 10 “persistently low-achieving schools,” as required by ED.
On March 19th, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) posted on its website information about upcoming monitoring visits to local school districts to assess compliance with laws and regulations regarding the spending of ARRA Educational Stabilization Funds.
For more information, visit these ARRA-related websites across the Northeast and Islands Region:
U.S. Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/index.html
State Recovery Sites
http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/state-local-tribal-and-territorial-resources
State Education Agency Recovery Sites
Education Week’s “Schools and the Stimulus”
http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/schools-stimulus/index.html
