FCAT Science

Gov­er­nor Char­lie Crist signed Florida’s appli­ca­tion for more than $700 mil­lion of the $4.35 bil­lion fed­eral dol­lars that will be avail­able through Race to the Top funds. Race to the Top is the largest-ever fed­eral com­pet­i­tive invest­ment in school reform. The U.S. Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion is review­ing the appli­ca­tions, win­ners will be announced for the first round of fund­ing by April.

If Florida is awarded the funds, half of the awarded funds will go to the 59 school dis­tricts, as well as three lab schools, and the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind that signed onto to become a part of the reform. The remain­der of the funds will go directly to the state (Tal­la­has­see) to sup­port state-level projects ben­e­fit­ing all school districts.

The fund­ing will be used in the fol­low­ing areas:

Cur­ricu­lum Standards

Assess­ments of Stu­dent Learning

Increased Use of Data (one-stop data crunch­ing for the entire state for use by teach­ers and dis­trict staff).

Teacher and Leader Qual­ity and

Assis­tance for Strug­gling Schools

For com­plete details on Florida’s Race to the Top Grant visit Florida’s Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion Amer­i­can Recov­ery and Rein­vest­ment Act  site.