Carmel Martin Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development

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U.S. Department of EducationVision and
Initiatives

• Carmel MartinAssistant Secretary for Planning,
  Evaluation, and Policy Development
• - Tuesday, July 28, 2009 -

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By 2020, America will once again have the
highest proportion of college graduates in the
world. President Barack Obama, February
24, 2009
Post-Secondary
Secondary (Grades 6-12)

• All graduates have opportunities for success in
  the 21st century economy

Elementary (Grades K-5)

• All students graduate high school on time
  prepared for at least one year of post-secondary

Birth to Age 5

• All students enter middle school with the
  foundational skills to tackle advanced subjects

• All kindergarten students arrive ready to learn

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Expanding ImprovingEarly Learning Opportunities

• Improve quality of early learning systems.
• Data
• Quality rating systems
• School readiness
• Research evaluation (up to 3 of funding in
  ELCF)
• Increase alignment coordination
• Among early learning programs.
• Between early learning programs, public school
  systems, and other social service providers.

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Early Learning Initiatives

• Early Learning Challenge Grants 10 billion over
  10 years for a new program that would fund states
  in developing an infrastructure of integrated
  early learning supports.
• Grants would support states to
• Develop and raise standards for early learning
  programs.
• Build a coordinated zero to 5 data infrastructure
  that is interoperable with K-12, high education,
  and workforce data systems.
• Increase number of low-income young children who
  participate in higher-quality settings.
• Ensure that more children enter kindergarten
  ready, with skills and abilities necessary for
  success.
• Title I Early Childhood 500 million FY10
  request.

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Key K-12 reforms
Raise standards and improveassessments. Build robust data systems that track student progress and improve practice.
Recruit, retain and support effective educators, and ensure that they are equitably distributed. Turn around low-performing schools, focusing on dropout factories and their feeder schools.
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Standards and Assessments

• Support nations movement toward a coherent
  system of standards, assessments, curriculum,
  instruction, and educator development.
• Support states in moving toward common standards
  and assessments that are vertically aligned,
  internationally benchmarked, and college and
  career ready.
• Support the development of assessments that
  fairly and validly measure progress.
• Support the development, dissemination, and
  implementation of curricula that support
  effective instruction.

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Talent

• Dramatically increase the number of effective
  educators.
• Decrease the number of ineffective educators.
• Attract and retain a higher percentage of
  effective educators and eliminate the gap based
  on income and race/ethnicity. 
• Make teaching and school leadership more
  attractive as a profession.

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Data Systems

• Transparency
• Accountability
• Performance management
• Innovation

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Data Systems

• ED is examining ways of moving towards
  consistent standards for critical data elements.
• Clear, implementable technical standards for
  longitudinal warehouses.
• States have invested time and money in systems
  that can enable better decision-making need to
  ensure that systems are getting used by teachers,
  leaders, policymakers.
• We are examining how best to support states in
  supporting LEAs in developing and improving
  systems.

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State Longitudinal Data Systems

• 250 million in Recovery Act 65 million request
  for FY2010.
• Grants to support states in working with state
  agencies and LEAs to establish seamless data
  systems.
• New focus on coordination early education, K-12,
  post-secondary education, workforce.
• Getting information into the hands of users
  (teachers, parents, school leaders) so that they
  can best support students and make instructional
  and program decisions.

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Turning Around Low-Performing Schools

• Tackle the dropout crisis by turning around our
  5,000 lowest-performing schools.
• Implement one of four aggressive strategies
• Turnarounds with new leaders and staff.
• Transformations that include
• Extended learning time.
• Using data to identify students at risk of
  dropping out.
• Rewarding effective educators willing to work in
  turnaround schools.
• Closing schools and restarting them as charters.
• Closing schools and reassigning students.

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ARRA Formula Funds
Program FY09 ARRA FY10 Request
State Fiscal Stabilization Fund 48.6b
Title I Grants to LEAs 14.5b 10b 13b
IDEA Part B Grants to States 11.5b 11.3b 11.5b
Education Technology 269.9m 650m 100m

• Historic influx of funding to all states creates
  strong foundation for reforms.

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ARRA Competitive Grants
Program FY09 ARRA FY10 Request
Race to the Top 4.35b
Title I School Improvement Fund 545m 3b 1.5b
Innovation Fund 650m 100m
State Longitudinal Data Systems 65m 250m 65m
Teacher Incentive Fund 97m 200m 517m
Total 0.7b 8.45b 2.2b

• Targeted competitive grants raise the bar on
  standards, talent, data, and turnaround.

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ARRA State Fiscal Stabilization Fund / Title I /
IDEA

• SFSF Title I IDEA ensures stability and
  provides base level of funding for all states to
  create foundation for reform.
• State Fiscal Stabilization Fund
• For Phase I, we have obligated over 36 billion
  (education and government service funds).
• The Phase II applications proposed definitions,
  requirements and review criteria was posted for
  public comment on July 29 anticipate final
  application will be available in the late fall.
• Title I 10b
• IDEA Part B - 11.3b

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SFSF Phase Two ProposedReporting Requirements

• Report against a set of indicators under each
  assurance.
• Mix of confirming existing information and
  reporting new data.
• Do not need to demonstrate progress against
  indicators.
• If unable to report information, States must
  submit a plan by which data will be transparent
  to public by no later than September 30, 2011.
• Focus on data, not narratives.
• Designed to bring transparency and reveal both
  strengths and underlying challenges.

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SFSF Metrics Human Capital

• EXAMPLES
• Number and percent of teachers in the
  highest-poverty and lowest-poverty schools in the
  state who are highly qualified.
• Number and percent of teachers and principals
  rated at each performance level in each local
  educational agencys (LEAs) evaluation system.
• Number and percent of LEA teacher and principal
  evaluation systems that require evidence of
  student achievement outcomes.

• Distribution of teachers by performance level by
  school.
• Description of the teacher evaluation system.

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SFSF Metrics Data Systems

• EXAMPLES
• Which of the 12 elements described in section
  6401(e)(2)(D) of the America COMPETES Act (20
  U.S.C. 9871) are included in the States
  statewide longitudinal data system.
• Whether the State provides teachers of
  reading/language arts and mathematics in grades
  in which the State administers assessments in
  those subjects with data on the performance of
  their students on those assessments that include
  estimates of individual teacher impact on student
  achievement, in a manner that is timely and
  informs instruction.

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SFSF Metrics Standards Assessments

• EXAMPLES
• Whether the state has developed and implemented
  valid and reliable assessments for students with
  disabilities and the percent of students with
  disabilities tested on state mathematics and
  English Language Arts (ELA) assessments.
• Whether the state has developed and implemented
  valid and reliable assessment for English
  language learners and the percent of English
  language learners tested on state mathematics and
  ELA assessments.
• Whether the most recent state reading and
  mathematics NAEP scores is on 2009-10 State
  Report Cards.
• The number and percentage of students by school
  who graduate high school and go on to complete at
  least one years worth of college credit (as
  applicable to a degree) within two years.

• / of students who graduate from high school
  using the 4 year adjusted cohort rate.
• / who enroll in IHE.
• / who complete one years worth of credit in
  two years.

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SFSF Metrics Struggling Schools

• EXAMPLES
• The number of schools in school improvement
  status that have demonstrated substantial gains
  in student achievement, closed, or consolidated
  within last three years.
• Of the schools in school improvement status, the
  number of schools in the bottom five percent that
  have demonstrated substantial gains in student
  achievement, closed or consolidated within the
  last three years.
• Whether the state allows charter schools and
  whether there is a cap restricting the number of
  such schools, the number of charter schools
  currently operating in the state, and the number
  of charter schools closed for academic, financial
  or purposes.

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SFSF Resources

• Comments To submit comments on our Notice of
  Proposed Priorities, Requirements, Definitions,
  and Selection Criteria, go to www.regulations.gov
  or send your comments via postal mail, commercial
  delivery, or hand delivery.
• Homepage http//www.ed.gov/programs/statestabiliz
  ation/index.html, you will find the Notice of
  Proposed Priorities, Requirements, Definitions,
  and Selection Criteria, factsheet, charts with
  indicators broken out by assurance area, and a
  link to the specific page on www.regulations.gov
  where you can submit a comment.

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Race to the Top Overview

• 4.35 billion competitive grant fund to encourage
  and reward states making dramatic education
  reforms, especially in the four assurance areas.
• Human Capital ? Data Systems
• Standards Assessments ? School Turnaround
• Structured in two competitions
• State Competition approximately 4 billion.
• Standards and Assessment Competition
  approximately 350 million.
• For both, 50 of funds flow through States to
  LEAs.

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Race to the Top Overview

• Focus on supporting states in
• Creating conditions for innovation and reform
  (legal/regulatory).
• Enabling system-wide approaches to continuous
  improvement (practice).
• We encourage state leaders to
• Design a unified state effort around ambitious
  reforms.
• Support districts reform efforts identify
  effective practices, replicate and disseminate
  those practices, then hold districts accountable
  for outcomes.
• Repurpose and align ARRA and other funds to have
  the most dramatic impact.
• Set goals for progress.

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Race to the Top Timelines

• Preliminary Timeline State Competition Phase 1
• Last week Release proposed requirements and
  criteria for public comment
• 30 days Public comment period
• October Notice inviting applications available
• December Application deadline for Phase 1 (2
  months to apply)
• March 2010 Winners announced for Phase 1
• Preliminary Timeline State Competition Phase 2
• June 2010 Application deadline for Phase 2 (8
  months to apply)
• September Winners announced for Phase 2
• Preliminary Timeline Standards and Assessment
  Competition
• Early 2010 Notice inviting applications
  available
• June Application deadline
• September Winners announced

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Other DiscretionaryGrant Programs

• Innovation Fund 650 million in ARRA for
  competitive grant fund to scale up and support
  proven reforms and strategies.
• School Improvement Grants 3 billion in ARRA and
  1.5 billion in FY10 request for grants that
  target lowest-performing schools for significant
  interventions.
• Teacher Incentive Fund 200 million in ARRA,
  487.3 million in FY10 request grants to LEAs and
  SEAs that develop innovative performance-based
  compensation systems targeted to high-need
  schools.
• State Longitudinal Data Systems 250 million in
  ARRA, 65 million in FY10 request for grants to
  support states in working with state agencies and
  LEAs to establish seamless data systems.

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College Access and Completion Goals

• We will work with states to
• Strengthen state and community colleges.
• Ensure college readiness among high school
  graduates.
• Expand access to and awareness of federal
  financial aid, so that financial barriers do not
  prevent students from going to college.
• Dramatically increase need-based aid, access to
  loans and expand tax credits.

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Postsecondary Initiatives

• Shorter, simpler, and more user friendly Free
  Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
• Major initiatives and funding streams include

Program FY10 Request
Pell Grants 28.7 billion / 5,500 maximum
Perkins Loans 6 billion
Federal TRIO Programs 905.1 million
College Access Completion Fund 500.0m
Title III Aid for Institutional Dev. 465.5m
GEAR UP 313.2m
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Community College Initiatives

• Innovation - 6.3b over 10 years
• Series of competitive grants to institutions,
  states and consortia.
• Includes both Community College Challenge Grants
  and the College Access and Completion Fund
• Institutional Reform and Strategies for college
  completion
• Modernization - 2.5b one time leveraged for
  10b impact
• Many community college facilities are over 50
  years old. Funds would expand colleges ability
  to meet employer and student needs.
• Online learning - 50m per year for 10 years
• Create state-of-the-art high quality courses that
  would be freely and widely available to help
  students gain knowledge, skills, and credentials
  they need for both college and career.

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Looking Ahead ESEA Reauthorization

• Listening tour hearing from educators, parents,
  students, and other stakeholders about what is
  and is not working in education.
• Goals for reauthorization
• Raise the bar, but close the gap.
• Ensure that major federal funding streams are
  going to the most effective uses and directed at
  kids that need the most support.
• Continuing accountability, but improving systems
  for evaluating school progress and providing
  flexibility to allow for innovation.
• Build better evaluation and technical assistance
  components into each program.

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Looking Ahead Workforce Investment Act
Reauthorization

• Modernizing adult education.
• Ensuring better coordination of programs for
  those eligible for vocational rehabilitation.
• Addressing the needs of disconnected youth.
• Revitalizing community colleges as engines for
  economic development.
• Improve postsecondary data systems.