Kentucky's Green River Regional Educational Cooperative, or GRREC, is a winner an estimated $40 million in Federal Race to the Top District Funds. GRREC represents 23 Western Kentucky School Districts, including Union County, Daviess County and Owensboro Independent. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says this year’s Race to The Top saw many new school districts competing for funds.
“The Race to the Top district program set a really high bar for applicants to meet," Duncan said. "They not only had to develop great plans, with commitments from local leaders, but districts were required to demonstrate that they had the capacity to do this difficult work and show a track record of implementing reform.”
“What we saw from the state level was pretty extraordinary," Duncan continued. "We saw some states that did not receive a nickel of Race to the Top funds and we absolutely hope and want that trend to continue. We want districts to keep moving on their blueprints for reform. And continue pursuing student focused investment that has the potential to transform the learning environment. And ultimately inspire movement to strengthen learning in classrooms across the country.”
The winning districts are sharing almost $400 million to support locally developed plans to personalize and deepen student learning, directly improve student achievement and educator effectiveness, close achievement gaps, and prepare every student to succeed in college and their careers.
The winning applicants were top scorers among 372 applications the Department received in November, which were evaluated and scored by independent peer reviewers.
Winning districts include:
Carson City School District, Nevada
Charleston County School District, South Carolina
Galt Joint Union School District, California
*Green River Regional Educational Cooperative, Kentucky, consortium leader (consortium members: Adair County Schools, Campbellsville Independent Schools, Carroll County Schools, Caverna Independent Schools, Cloverport Independent Schools, Daviess County Schools, Green County Schools, Hart County Schools, Henry County Schools, Logan County Schools, Metcalfe County Schools, Monroe County Schools, Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative, Owen County Schools, Owensboro Independent Schools, Russell County Schools, Shelby County Schools, Simpson County Schools, Spencer County Schools, Taylor County Schools, Trimble County Schools, Union County Schools, West Point Independent Schools)
Guilford County Schools, North Carolina
*Harmony Science Academy (Harmony Public Schools), Texas, consortium leader (consortium members: Harmony School of Excellence, Harmony School of Science-Houston, Harmony Science Academy-Austin, Harmony Science Academy-Brownsville, Harmony Science Academy-El Paso, Harmony Science Academy-Fort Worth, Harmony Science Academy-Lubbock, Harmony Science Academy-San Antonio, Harmony Science Academy-Waco)
IDEA Public Schools, Texas
Iredell-Statesville Schools, North Carolina
KIPP DC, Washington, D.C.
Lindsay Unified School District, California
Metropolitan School District of Warren Township, Indiana
Middletown City School District, New York
New Haven Unified School District, California
*Puget Sound Educational Service District, Washington, consortium leader (consortium members: Auburn School District, Federal Way Public Schools, Highline Public Schools, Kent School District, Renton School District, Seattle Public Schools, Tukwila School District)
School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida
St. Vrain Valley Schools, Colorado