Obama to begin unveiling ed reform plan
Posted March 10, 2009 5:54 AM
by Christi Parsons
President Barack Obama will begin to outline his education reform plan today, announcing plans to expand pay incentives for good teachers and offering grants to schools that raise their standards for students.
The president will announce his intent to hike federal support for expansion of performance pay models in at least 150 school districts around the country, according to senior administration officials.
Grants included in his 2010 budget plan are designed to encourage states to raise statewide standards and to collect data about performance in early childhood education programs, the officials said.
Funding available through Obama's recently passed economic stimulus plan will go to helping states upgrade the data systems they use to track student progress and teacher effectiveness.
And the president also will announce his intent to support dropout prevention programs in the next budget and to redirect money that now goes to support bank loans to college students into direct student aid.
Today's speech to a group of Hispanic business leaders comes two weeks after Obama's address to a joint session of Congress, in which he promised to work for a competitive education for every children from "the day they are born to the day they begin a career."
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http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/03/obama_to_begin_unveiling_ed_re.html