The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.
Commentary on the Race to the Top Fund
August 25, 2009
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), the U.S. Department of Education recently announced the $4.35 billion Race to the Top Fund. This competitive grants program will award funds to State Education Agencies to encourage education innovation and improvement across four education reform areas described in ARRA (improving teacher effectiveness, promoting national standards, developing and implementing data collection, and turning around struggling schools).
The Fund will become the largest pot of discretionary funding for K-12 education reform in the history of the United States, and represents a historic opportunity for the federal government to create incentives for dramatic improvements in the nation’s schools
The Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group, a collaborative of leaders in the family engagement field including Harvard Family Research Project’s (HFRP) Heather Weiss, submitted recommendations for the Race to the Top Fund’s proposed priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria.
HFRP both endorsed the comments submitted by the Working Group and submitted its own commentary, asserting that a priority criterion for awarding Race to the Top funds should focus on the quality and depth of family engagement, especially to achieve ARRA’s goal of turning around struggling schools.
Go to the National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group’s commentary
Go to Harvard Family Research Project’s Commentary
Go to Regulations.gov to view all comments posted for the Race to The Top program