Ask the Expert: Robin Chait on Going Back to School

Are there any Obama administration policies that we should expect to see starting as kids go back to school this year?

Two of the most interesting Obama administration initiatives are the Race to the Top Fund and the Investing in Innovation Fund. These are competitive grant programs intended to incent innovation and reform. Winners of the second round of the Race to the Top competition were just announced on August 24 and the highest rated applicants of the Investing in Innovation Fund were also announced in early August.

The Race to the Top Fund provides competitive grants to states that propose to implement bold reforms in four specific areas.

Twelve states have been awarded these grants and will likely begin planning to implement the strategies that they proposed in all of these areas. They may not reach schools this school year, but will be implemented in the next three years.

The Investing in Innovation Fund provides competitive grants to school districts and non-profit organizations to either invest in or scale up innovative practices that will improve student achievement.

Do any of these strategies show particular promise?

A variety of promising strategies are supported through both of these programs. At CAP we have focused a great deal on teacher effectiveness because while we know that teachers are the most important school related factor to helping students learn, we don't have the systems in place to recruit and retain talented teachers, particularly in the schools that need them the most. States winning Race to the Top grants have proposed improvements to teacher evaluation systems and the process for awarding tenure, better professional development for teachers, and incentives for teachers to teach in the schools that need them the most.

We have also focused on expanding learning time by as much as 30 percent as part of a larger strategy for improving achievement in low-performing and high-poverty schools. This additional time can be used to provide additional academic instruction and enrichment opportunities to give students both more time to master challenging academic content and a richer educational experience.

How can we keep education reform momentum going?

Congress should continue to fund competitive grant programs that incent reform and innovation. This is critical because the education status quo clearly hasn't worked for students in this country. Persistent achievement gaps in all subjects and stagnant reading scores and graduation rates all highlight the need for much more than a business-as-usual approach to education. While there's no silver bullet for how to improve schools, doing more of the same and expecting different results makes little sense. Race to the Top, along with other competitive grant programs such as the Investing in Innovation Fund, the Charter Schools Program, and the Teacher Incentive Fund, is so promising precisely because it invests in innovation and experimentation. Without experimentation, it isn't possible to find better ways of educating students.