Four recent publications describe the progress of nine states that received Round 1 Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grants in implementing systems that rate early learning and development programs on quality and help them improve. These systems are known as tiered quality rating and improvement systems (TQRIS). RTT-ELC had…

The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grants program, sponsored by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, aimed to improve children's access to high quality early care and education. RTT-ELC awarded more than $1 billion over three rounds of grants to help states develop and implement systems that rate…

The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grants program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), aimed to increase the number of high quality early learning and development programs. RTT-ELC awarded $520 million in the first of three rounds of grants to help states…

The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grants program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, aimed to improve children's access to high quality early learning and development programs. RTT-ELC awarded $520 million in the first of three rounds of grants to help states…

The effectiveness of educator incentive programs rests on the assumption that the potential rewards for participants will motivate them to behave in certain ways (e.g., choose certain jobs, expend greater effort, engage in capacity-building professional development). Some researchers have examined the impact of financial incentives on teacher…

Caught between extraordinary public expectations and relatively modest constitutional authority, U.S. presidents historically have fashioned all sorts of mechanisms--executive orders, proclamations, memoranda--by which to move their objectives forward. William Howell asserts that under President Barack Obama's administration, presidential…

This report focuses on the progress made and challenges faced by the nine states in achieving the first three objectives for which they were held accountable for use of their Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge (RTTELC) funds. It discusses discrete findings related to these objectives in relevant chapters of the report: Tiered Quality Rating…

Well before President Barack Obama vaulted early childhood learning to the top of the education agenda in his recent State of the Union address, states were taking steps to bolster their own preschool programs. More than a dozen states--including some, such as Hawaii and Mississippi, that have had no state-financed preschool programs in the…

This publication provides an overview of the current federal opportunities to help states advance their data-related activities. Although not exhaustive, this list provides a starting point for federal policymakers to support states' work in this area.

Three big-city districts--Chicago, Milwaukee, and New York--have terminated federal grants aimed at promoting performance-based compensation plans and professional development for teachers and principals. Overall, the 2010 Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grants to the three districts would have provided an $88 million payout over five years--nearly 7…

Almost two years into the federal Race to the Top program, states are spending their shares of the $4 billion prize at a snail's pace--a reflection of the challenges the 12 winners face as they try to get ambitious education improvement plans off the ground. Through the end of March, the 11 states and the District of Columbia had spent just 14…

Education data can empower educators, students, parents, and policymakers with the information they need to make the best decisions to improve student achievement, information that can move the nation toward an education system in which every student graduates prepared for college and career. Safeguarding the privacy of student data is a critical…

Two years after the U.S. Department of Education awarded $650 million in Investing in Innovation grants, some of the winners are still facing financial uncertainty. Other grantees have also encountered problems with matching funds coming through, and some nonprofit grantees have been forced to contribute their own money to match the initial…

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education distributed $2,500,000 via a competitive grant program, the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans, to 11 school districts. The grants and their local effects provide an opportunity to examine the new politics of diversity in public education. Participants cited a wide range of conceptions of…

This article reports on how Delaware pushes to meet Race to the Top promises. The Delcastle Technical High School teachers are on the front lines of the push to deliver on promises that last year won Delaware, 10 other states, and the District of Columbia shares of the Race to the Top pie, the $4 billion competition that is driving much of the…