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Race to the Top
A Federal Competitive Grant Program
Race to the Top (RTTT) is a federal competitive grant program authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The program is designed to encourage and reward states that are implementing significant reforms in four education areas:
- Enhancing standards and assessments.
- Improving the collection and use of data.
- Increasing teacher effectiveness and achieving equity in teacher distribution.
- Turning around struggling schools.
The U.S. Department of Education made awards in two phases, with Phase 1 funding awarded in spring 2010 and Phase 2 funding awarded in August 2010. Maryland State Superintendent of School Nancy Grasmick announced on August 24, 2010, that Maryland had been awarded a Race to the Top education grant worth $250 million over four years. Of that total, the Howard County Public School System will receive $823,257 over a four-year period.
The HCPSS is in the process of developing its RTTT Scope of Work Plan for submission to the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). First drafts are due by November 3, 2010. Revised plans are due to MSDE by November 17, 2010. The final Scope of Work Plans from participating school systems will be submitted by MSDE to the US Department of Education on November 22, 2010.
HCPSS Finance Department will respond to minor technical questions about the system’s proposed budget and the document will be forwarded to the U.S. Department of Education by November 22.
HCPSS’ RTTT Targets
On October 26, the District Planning Team of the Howard County Public School System adopted the following targets for the decade of reform that the school system is initiating using Race to the Top funds:
By 2020 -
- One hundred percent of students are proficient in English/language arts and mathematics.
- Ninety-five percent of students in each student group graduate from HCPSS high schools, college and career ready.
Standards and Assessment
In June 2010, the Maryland State Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English/Language Arts and Mathematics. During August and September, the state completed a gap analysis matching the current state curriculum and the CCSS using the Achieve Common Core Comparison Tool. The strength of the matches is categorized as excellent, good or weak.
An executive summary of the gap analysis reveals that 88% of the Common Core mathematics standards matched Maryland mathematics standards; there are 495 Common Core mathematics standards. Twelve percent of the Common Core mathematics standards had no match to Maryland mathematics standards. Full details...
2010 Resources - PDF Documents
Additional Resources - Websites
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