PRESIDENT'S EDUCATION AGENDA IN BRIEF

PRESIDENT'S EDUCATION AGENDA IN BRIEF

Only hardcore policy wonks may have noticed this, but as part of the January 20th presidential transition, an unprecedented revision of nearly all federal executive branch Web sites occurred almost simultaneously with the noon transition of presidential authority. The White House Web site now features a broad summary of the President's education agenda. The language is mostly general in nature, but a few of these statements are fairly specific. The initiatives include the following:

Create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state Zero to Five efforts and support voluntary UPK;
Quadruple Early Head Start funding;
Increase Head Start funding;
Double funding for the Federal Charter School Program in states that improve accountability for charter schools;
Provide funding for dropout prevention and intervention strategies in middle schools;
Double funding for the 21st Century Learning Centers grant program;
Support college-readiness outreach programs like GEAR UP, TRIO and Upward Bound;
Create new Teacher Service Scholarships;
Support performance pay and differential pay plans for teachers;
Increasing funding and enforcement if IDEA.

See full text at http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/education/