The excerpt below describes a new U.S. federal education grant called Race to the Top. It's a bit like the failed No Child Left Behind, except with funding! Read on.
From an article by Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
It's relatively small by Washington standards, but the Obama administration's $4.35 billion carrot for schools is already leading states to adopt a handful of key reforms. Tucked into the $110 billion federal stimulus slated for education, a comparatively tiny grant known as the Race to the Top requires that states that want the money must commit to closing historic achievement gaps and getting more kids into college – but they also must show that they're attending to a few nitty-gritty details that President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan believe are important, including:
•Tying teacher and principal pay – and school assignments – to student test scores.
•Adopting internationally benchmarked academic standards.
•Turning around their lowest-performing schools.
•Building long-term student tracking systems.
•Loosening legal caps on the number of charter schools that states allow each year.
Obama's message to American children is to stay in school and get an education,"You can't drop out of school and into a good job."
