by Mike Blakeslee and Roz Fehr
The Federal Government shapes what happens in education through two main steps: legislation and appropriation. Let’s look at what happens in Congress. First, they pass authorizing legislation that allows the government to do specific things—currently, and most importantly, they are discussing reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, better known in its last incarnation as No Child Left Behind.
Congress is overdue in appropriating money to carry out the provisions of the act, so the government is working on a "continuing resolution" that allows work to go on in the areas that had both authorization and appropriation action the last time around.
But there is another step in the ways that all this back-and-forth on the legislative level makes a mark on local programs—rulemaking.
Most recently, the Federal Register included two sets of proposed rules on which MENC and its education and arts allies have commented. They are rules for the disbursement of funds under two sections of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA): the Race to the Top Fund (RTTT, valued at $4.35 Billion) and the smaller Investing in Innovation Fund (i3, valued at $650 Million).
The draft rules for the Race to the Top fund were, in our opinion, a mess that emphasized STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education over other "core academic subjects," such as music and the other arts. We filed formal comments to this effect (along with criticizing other details of the rules), and worked with our colleague organizations in arts education to present a united front on the issue.
The final rules moved distinctly away from this mistaken emphasis on a limited curriculum to a more even-handed emphasis on core academic subjects. We’ve commented on other details of this latest set of proposed rules, but for the arts, the trend at the U.S. Department of Education seems positive.
MENC is pleased with the final version of the rules for the Race to the Top fund, which contains language for which MENC advocated. The final version of the rules broadens the usual tested ways in which teachers and principals are evaluated.
An executive summary of the Race to the Top program said the final rules will help schools and school districts "build data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction."
Visit the U.S. Department of Education Web site to read:
- The press release announcing the final application
- The Race to the Top application
- An executive summary of the rules
- A summary of the major rule changes
- Details for applicants in the Notice Inviting Applications
Full details on Race to the Top, including the Department of Education responses to rule comments, will be printed in the November 18 Federal Register.
If you read the details online, no problem. If you read the daily print version of the Register, reading glasses or a magnifying glass may be in order for the tiny print.
