ARRA Funds for Education
Race to the Top
The Race to the Top fund allows states to compete for $4.35 billion available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to improve education quality and results statewide. These funds will support the states making dramatic progress on the four reform goals of ARRA funds:
- Developing and adopting common standards
- Using data systems to improve instruction
- Developing great teachers and leaders
- Turning around lowest-performing schools
Forty-one states and the District of Columbia submitted Race to the Top applications in Round 1; 16 were named finalists, and the states of Delaware and Tennessee won the first two grants awarded. Thirty-six states submitted Round 2 applications on June 1, with awards expected in fall 2010. Read more.
In addition, the United States Department of Education has set aside $350 million to hold a Race to the Top Assessment competition. Four consortiums recently submitted proposals to develop a next generation of assessments. Learn more.
Investing in Innovation Fund (I3)
The U.S. Department of Education will spend up to $650 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to make competitive awards under the Investing in Innovation fund. These awards will reward Local Education Agencies (LEAs) or non-profit organizations that have made significant gains in closing achievement gaps to serve as models for best practices.
Applicants must demonstrate previous success in closing achievement gaps, improving student progress toward proficiency, increasing graduation rates, or recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers and principals.
Under the proposed priorities, grants will be awarded to districts in three categories:
Scale-up grants - The largest possible grant category focused on programs and practices with the potential to reach hundreds of thousands of students. Applicants must have a strong base of evidence that their program has had a significant effect on improving student achievement.
Validation grants - Existing, promising programs that have good evidence of their impact and are ready to improve their evidence base while expanding in their own and other communities.
Development grants - The smallest grant level designed to support new and high-potential practices whose impact should be studied further.
View the list of applications received.