Submission of California's Application for Federal Education Data Grant

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced that California's application for a competitive federal grant to fund statewide education data systems has been submitted. The $250 million competitive grant program is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

           "Improving our state education data system and using data more effectively are key steps we must take to close the achievement gap and better prepare all students for success in the competitive global economy," O'Connell said. "California has an excellent framework that is guiding our efforts to develop a world-class comprehensive education data system, and our state has been taking systematic steps to implement this framework. Winning this grant will help California take the next big leap toward our goal. Using data effectively to improve instruction and student outcomes is one of the pillars of the Race to the Top (RTTT) competition, and California's efforts to win the funding for data systems dovetails with our work to develop our RTTT application."

           The U.S. Department of Education plans to determine which states will win the education data system grant within the next three months.

           For more information on the federal grant called the Institute of Education Sciences; Grant Program for Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Recovery Act Program CFDA 84.384A, please visithttp://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=48849.