On December 19th, six states received an early Christmas present when they were awarded a Race to the Top–Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grant. Kentucky, Michigan, Georgia, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey joined the 14 existing state grantees that received funding in the first two rounds of RTT-ELC. The new awardees will receive a combined total of $280 million over five years. Individual state awards range from $51 million for Michigan to $37 million for Vermont.

The overarching goal of the RTT-ELC grant is to:

  • Improve early learning programs for children by supporting states' efforts to increase the number and percentage of low-income and disadvantaged infants, toddlers, and preschoolers enrolled in high-quality early learning programs; and
  • Design and implement an integrated system of high-quality early learning programs and services.

Each state’s plan is unique and is dependent on the current level of systems building, collaboration, infrastructure development, and QRIS implementation in place within the state. Some states are using the money to update their QRIS framework and create a QRIS 2.0 that includes research-based measures of teacher-child interactions, such as the CLASS™ measure. Other states are developing larger coaching, professional development, and technical assistance networks to better serve the needs of teachers.

Each time awards are granted, I receive many calls and emails from teachers, directors, and parents asking what the grant means for them and how they can access the money that has been given to their state. For teachers and directors, it can be difficult to see millions of dollars coming into their state but be unable to use the funds directly to improve the lives of the children that they serve. Unfortunately, the RTT-ELC funds are not available for programs, teachers, or parents to access on their own. Instead, the funds are used by the state to build and improve the system of early learning.

What this means for individual programs is different depending on the state in which they operate. In general, directors, teachers, and parents in Kentucky, Michigan, Georgia, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey will see three primary improvements within their state:

  1. Additional coaching and technical assistance personnel to support program improvement and professional development
  2. Enhanced QRIS frameworks that include research-based measures of teacher-child interactions
  3. Increased capacity to serve additional infants, toddlers, and preschoolers

Programs should expect to see changes resulting from the new funds in one to two years.

I know that this is not the overnight impact that is needed, but by building systems the hope is that the impact will be seen for many years to come.

To stay updated on the latest RTT-ELC news, continue to follow the Teachstone blog. In addition, I recommend following the QRIS Network website and the New America Foundation's Ed Central blog to stay current on all that is happening in early learning.