To be
eligible to apply, districts must serve at least 2,000 students, with at least 40%
from across all participating schools coming from low-income families. The
Education Department received 372 applications from school districts, school
district consortia, and charter school networks in 41 states and the District
of Columbia. It plans to award an
aggregate of $400 million in grants to 15 to 20 winners by December 31,
2012. Grants will vary from $5 million
to $40 million, depending on district size.
Winners
must promise to:
- implement teacher, principal, and superintendent
evaluation systems by the 2014-15 school year;
- measure student performance against state-adopted
college and career-ready graduation requirements; and
- have data systems that can link individual
students to teachers and provide timely data on student academic growth.