Three California school districts are amongst xvi winners in the latest round of the federal Race to the Peak funding competition. The relatively pocket-sized districts beat out several of the country'southward largest districts, which didn't even make information technology into the last round.

This round of funding was the first in the series of Race to the Top competitions to exist made bachelor to private districts. New Haven Unified in Union City, with almost thirteen,000 students, was the largest of the California winners. Lindsay Unified, in the Fundamental Valley midway between Fresno and Bakersfield, and Galt Unproblematic District, southward of Sacramento, too won. Each of those districts has around 4,000 students. The three districts won a combined full of just under $50 one thousand thousand to implement a range of reforms.

The awards were especially notable because California has failed in its previous bids to win Race to the Summit funding for its K-12 schools. The just piece of the $4.three billion fund that the state has won so far is $53 meg to strengthen programs for the state'due south youngest children (from 0 to 5 years) in concluding twelvemonth'south Race to the Top – Early Learning Claiming competition.

New Haven Unified had 1 of the strongest applications in the land, ranking second out of 351 applicants. The commune was awarded $29 million. That includes funding for an ambitious engineering plan to provide each student in grades 6 through 12 with a digital tablet. Tablets will exist provided for students in the lower forms as well, at a ratio of one tablet for every two students. Teachers will also exist given tablets and laptops to help with education. In improver, the funds will expand programs and activities already under way, including hiring additional literacy, math and assessment coaches to assist teachers use data to personalize education for students and leadership evolution.

Superintendent Kari McVeigh said there was "incredible jubilation" in the New Haven district offices when the news came. "People were literally dancing and screaming," she said.

Lindsay Unified School District will use its $10 million grant to speed up its transition to performance-based learning. (click to enlarge).

Lindsay Unified School District will use its $x 1000000 grant to speed up its transition to performance-based learning. (click to overstate).

McVeigh said having a tablet in the easily of every middle and high school student volition allow the district to collect real-time data on educatee learning, provide students with up-to-date web-based texts, and allow teachers to put their course lessons direct on tablets.

Lindsay Unified was awarded $10 million for its proposal to rail all students with individualized learning plans. Lindsay Superintendent Tom Rooney said the grant will allow the district to accelerate and refine its program by training every teacher and principal in how to personalize curriculum, testing and electronic grading. Rooney said the progress his district has already made likely contributed to its successful application. "We accept the chapters to make this reform and we've demonstrated that chapters," Rooney said.

The modest rural district fabricated it only under the wire – it was ranked 16thursday of the 16 winners announced Tuesday, squeaking by with a score just one point higher than the Missouri commune that came in 17thursday.

The Galt Joint Union Elementary District was also awarded about $10 million. The funds volition permit the district to keep work on a series of reforms it initiated in 2008. A cardinal element will be to integrate StrengthsExplorer, a programme that identifies and builds on the strengths of each educatee to create individualized learning

Superintendent Karen Schauer heard the news that Galt had won minutes earlier a scheduled meeting with union representatives. Schauer said the

Galt Joint Union School District will receive $10 million over four years for it's personalized learning program. (click to enlarge).

Galt Joint Union Schoolhouse District volition receive $x million over iv years for its personalized learning programme. (click to enlarge).

local union had worked closely with the district as it dealt with school closures and figured out a way to tie student bookish performance, among other measures, to teacher evaluations.

"We've been collaborating with the union in win-win ways in Galt, California," Schauer said. "We're actually proud of that because it is not easy to do."

Ánimo Charter Schools, a grouping of middle and high schools in Los Angeles that are function of Green Dot Public Schools, made the list of finalists in November, merely did not make the terminal cut. Some other 17 California districts applied and either did non run into eligibility requirements or did not make it to the finals. Among these are and some of the state's largest districts, including San Diego Unified, Los Angeles Unified and Fresno Unified.

One of the master obstacles in California and elsewhere has been the requirement to necktie measures of student academic functioning to teacher evaluations. The 3 California winners all take some form of teacher evaluation linked to educatee performance already in place in their districts.

U.South. Secretary of Didactics Arne Duncan said yesterday that the winning districts prepare a loftier bar for innovation and locally-driven reform, adding that there were then many solid proposals submitted that the Department of Educational activity would have made grants to more than the tiptop sixteen applicants if they had had more money to spend. "The number of strong applicants was greater than the number of dollars available," said Duncan.

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