Improve and prioritize student science assessments

Grants will encourage states to assess higher-order thinking skills

Updated: Monday, November 9th, 2009 | By Robert Farley

President Barack Obama has packed a number of his campaign promises related to education into his "Race to the Top" program, which seeks to encourage innovative approaches to teaching and learning by having states compete for $4.35 billion worth of grants from the Department of Education. The program was funded through the Obama-backed economic stimulus package approved by Congress in February.

In a speech in Madison, Wis., on Nov. 4, Obama announced the criteria for states to win the grants.

"The first measure is whether a state is committed to setting higher standards and better assessments that prepare our children to succeed in the 21st century," Obama said. "And I'm pleased to report that 48 states are now working to develop internationally competitive standards -- internationally competitive standards because these young people are going to be growing up in an international environment where they're competing not just against kids in Chicago or Los Angeles for jobs, but they're competing against folks in Beijing and Bangalore."

In academia-speak, the grant program talks about rewarding states that develop and implement "high-quality assessments," later defined as "an assessment designed to measure a student's understanding of, and ability to apply, critical concepts through the use of a variety of item types, formats, and administration conditions (e.g., open-ended responses, performance-based tasks, use of technology)."

A White House fact sheet on "Race to the Top" says it would emphasize "designing and implementing rigorous standards and high-quality assessments, by encouraging states to work jointly toward a system of common academic standards that builds toward college and career readiness, and that includes improved assessments designed to measure critical knowledge and higher-order thinking skills."

Competition for the grants will be conducted in two rounds -- the first starting this month and the second in June -- with winners announced in April and September next year.

But Obama has set this promise in motion; and so we rate it In the Works.

Sources: Department of Education, Press release: "President Obama, U.S. Secretary of Education Duncan Announce National Competition to Advance School Reform," July 24, 2009 Department of Education, "Race to the Top Fund" Department of Education, "Race to the Top Fund; State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Program; Institute of Education Sciences; Overview Information; Grant Program for Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems; Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of  2009" YouTube, President Obama on Race to the Top , July 24, 2009 Washington Post, Op-ed: "Education Reform's Moon Shot," by Arne Duncan, July 24, 2009 White House Web site, "Fact Sheet: The Race to the Top," Nov. 4, 2009