by Jacob Kirn
For the roughly 40 states preparing to apply for the Race to the Top challenge, help is on the way.
The competition, created by the federal government to award $500 million for early childhood education to states with the best applications, can require sizeable labor hours from state workers.
Official guidelines for applicants will be released later this month. But already early education advocates are urging states to use online resources they’re convinced will help them complete the demanding process.
These include:
- A resource to help meet the needs of vulnerable babies and toddlers, from CLASP: policy solutions that work for low-income people
- The Early Learning Challenge Collaborative, which will provide technical assistance with applications
- A discussion on how to improve early childhood data and state longitudinal data systems, a key indicator of an applicant’s success
- A tool designed to help states track child demographics and health and nutrition program participation
The next few months will be hectic for the states and their benefactors. We know the work will be worth the result: more funding for vital programs that boost school readiness, like Parents as Teachers.
Jacob Kirn is a journalism major at University of Missouri-Columbia and an intern at Parents as Teachers.
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