The grant was announced by the U.S Department of Education and the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, which jointly issue the grants. State recipients are chosen based on their ability to implement coherent, compelling, and comprehensive early learning education reform that results in high-quality early learning programs for young children. This funding is designed to spur broad system improvement – not to pay for direct services to young children. A total of $500 million will be awarded through the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge.
Oregon's application was based on the Governor's initiatives to create a more coordinated approach to budgeting and school curricula across the education spectrum. The federal money will support improvement in the quality of early learning and development programs, better training of early childhood educators, and better measurement of how well programs prepare children for kindergarten. This is Oregon's first successful Race to the Top application at any level of education.
The statewide Early Learning Council, established in July 2011 by the Oregon Legislature, is the lead agency in charge of implementing the grant. The Early Learning Council is housed in the Governor's Office and is a part of the Oregon Education Investment Board, which oversees the creation of a unified system for investing in and delivering public education from early childhood through high school and college.
Thirty-five states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico submitted applications to compete for the first round of the federal early learning grant, which was first announced in 2011. Oregon finished 13th (since revised to 12th) in that first round; only the top nine were funded. Based on the strength of Oregon's application, the state was invited with four others to apply for a second round of Race to the Top in April, 2012. That second round application is the subject of this announcement.
U.S. Department Of Education
Gov. John Kitzhaber
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