Education Week - January 8, 2014 - 16

Lawmakers
To Focus In
On K-12 Aid
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14
agreement includes a host of cuts
to federal programs, including
some changes to the student-lending
program. For instance, nonprofit
organizations that service
student loans no longer would be
paid through mandatory, or essentially,
automatic federal funding.
Instead, they'd get their payments
from the discretionary side of the
ledger, where payments are determined
every year by lawmakers.
Early Wish List
Education advocates wasted
no time in letting lawmakers
know where they want most of
the newly restored K-12 money
to go: into big formula programs
dispensed to nearly every district
to help educate poor children and
students in special education, improve
teacher quality, and bolster
career and technical education.
"Given the limited nature of federal
funding, we caution against
diluting the potential of federal
investment by focusing on nonformula
funding for a narrow set of recipients,
or funding new initiatives
at the expense of Title I and [special
education]," wrote five education
advocacy groups in a letter sent
Dec. 18 to every member of Congress.
The groups include: AASA, the
School Superintendents Association;
the American Federation of Teachers;
the Council of the Great City
Schools; the National Education Association;
and the National School
Boards Association.
The American Association of
Educational Service Agencies, the
National Rural Education Association,
and the National Rural
Education Advocacy Coalition,
along with the AASA, sent a letter
to lawmakers the same day making
a similar point.
"We are troubled with a continued
effort to fund competitivegrant
programs that create a
federal education structure of
winners and losers," they wrote.
"Especially in rural communities,
the lack of access to these critical
funds exacerbates-rather than
addresses-resource and achievement
gaps."
Ms. McCann of the New America
Foundation said that some lawmakers
may not have expected Race to
the Top and Investing in Innovation-programs
created under the
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009-to remain in
place this long. She said Congress
has largely been funding the government
using stopgap measures that
continue financing all programs at
the previous year's levels.
"I don't think people expected
Race to the Top and Investing in
Innovation to stick around the
way they did," Ms. McCann said. "I
think they're going to try to shift
focus back to the more baseline
budget formula programs" such as
Title I and special education.
Clarksdale High
School student Shamia
Hopper works on a
chemical equation.
The Clarksdale district
will use its $10 million
federal Race to the
Top grant to expand
its 9th grade academy
and improve
professional
development,
among other plans.
Personalized Learning Is Focus of New Grants
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14
by the department's crew of outside peer
reviewers so he could fund two lower-scoring,
rural applications. That outcome was
allowed under the competition's design:
The department established four categories
within which districts could compete,
based on whether they are in a Race to the
Top state or whether they are rural. The
goal was to ensure a more-level playing
field between urban districts, which may
have more resources and sophisticated
grant writers, and their rural counterparts.
The two highest-scoring applications that
got passed over were Winston-Salem in
North Carolina and TEAM Academy Charter
School, a New Jersey charter school that is
part of the Knowledge Is Power Program,
or KIPP nationwide network of charters.
Andy Smarick, a partner at Bellwether
Education Partners in Washington, who
has written a book about urban school
systems of the future, said he was encouraged
to see rural districts, which often get
overlooked for grant money, among the
winners. However, he said he sympathizes
with those districts that scored well but
didn't get a grant.
"You play by the rules and score well
enough to win, but get bumped to make
room for others," Mr. Smarick said. "The
exclusion of KIPP TEAM is particularly disappointing
because having a high-performing,
high-poverty charter network in this portfolio
of winners would've added a valuable
dimension."
Judging Criteria
The applications were judged on their
vision and capacity for improvement as
well as whether they pitched a strong
plan to provide educators with resources
to accelerate student achievement and
prepare students for college and careers.
The competition required a focus on personalized
learning and gave preference to
districts that formed partnerships with
public and private organizations to offer
services that help meet students' academic,
social, and emotional needs outside
the classroom.
It's possible that 2013 could have been
the last year for a district-level competition.
Federal officials said they are hoping
16 | EDUCATION WEEK | January 8, 2014 | www.edweek.org
for additional Race to the Top money this
fiscal year but may direct it toward a contest
to improve higher education.
The leaders of the latest winning districts
are taking similar approaches to
personalizing learning for students, with
a heavy emphasis on putting devices in
the hands of students.
Expanding technology
Houston is working on a 1-to-1 digital
conversion that starts in earnest in January,
when students in grades 9-12 will get
a laptop to take home as a way to foster
24/7 learning. The district will also implement
a new "linked learning" model of
teaching from elementary through high
school that stresses project-based learning.
Students will move on to exploring
aptitudes and life interests in middle
school and attending career academies in
high school.
"This helps us [on] how we can scale up, and
how we can do this faster, better," said Super-
STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS
Rural districts were strongly represented in the latest round of Race to the Top district grants.
WINNER
STATE
Clarendon County
School District Two
South Carolina
GRANT
$25 million
HIGHLIGHTS
Project-based learning initiatives, individualized
learning plans, expanded web-based digital content
and increased dual-enrollment options for college
and career training, tablet computers and internet
access for all students.
Clarksdale Municipal
School District
Houston Independent
School District
Mississippi
Texas
$10 million
$30 million
Personalized learning academies in 5th and 6th
grades, instructional and data coaches, bolstered
career academies.
Implementation of new "Linked Learning" model
of teaching from elementary through high school
with project-based learning, aptitudes and life
interests in middle school, and a focus on career
academies in high school.
Kentucky Valley
Educational Cooperative
Springdale School
District
Arkansas
Source: U.S. Department of Education
$26 million
Kentucky
$30 million
Expanded distance learning, improved technology
training, college/career mentors for middle and high
school students.
Creation of parent academies, one-to-one
technology for all students, and new environmental
science labs.
intendent Terry Grier in the media call.
South Carolina's Clarendon County
district also will make personal learning
devices like laptops and tablets available
to all students and create individualized
learning plans for them.
The Springdale district in Arkansas
plans to expand career academies, require
9th graders to take an online course, and
improve its data dashboard.
The Kentucky Valley co-op will expand
distance learning and better train teachers
to use technology.
And Clarksdale, Miss., will focus on
expanding its 9th grade academy, using
video-based technology to remediate students
in grades K-8 in reading and mathematics,
and improving professional development.

"We are so elated at the opportunity to
truly have school reform in our district.
We've been at this process for a while," said
Superintendent Dennis Dupree. "The Race
to the Top grant is going to solidify what
we've been trying to do for a long time."
Rogelio V. Solis/AP-File

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Education Week - January 8, 2014

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