State Implementation of Reforms Promoted under the Recovery Act. A Report from Charting the Progress of Education Reform: An Evaluation of the Recovery Act's Role. NCEE 2014-4011
Author: Webber, Ann
Date: 2014-01-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Federal Legislation,Educational Finance,Financial Support,Educational Change,Elementary Secondary Education,Grants,Educational Improvement,Academic Standards,Career Readiness,College Readiness,Data,Database Management Systems,School Effectiveness,Low Achievement,School Turnaround,Incentives,State Departments of Education,Educational Indicators,Labor Force Development,Academic Achievement

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA or the Recovery Act) of 2009 provided an unprecedented level of funding for K-12 education. The program created a &quot;historic opportunity to save hundreds of thousands of jobs, support states and school districts, and advance reforms and improvements that will create long-lasting results for our students and our nation.&quot; Specifically, the Recovery Act allocated $70.6 billion in funding for K-12 education, of which $6.8 billion was awarded to states through a combination of newly created and existing grant programs, including the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF) formula grants, Race to the Top (RTT) discretionary grants, and additional funding for the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program. In return for Recovery Act grants, recipients were required to commit to four specific core reforms or assurances: (1) Adopting rigorous college-ready and career-ready standards and high-quality assessments; (2) Establishing data systems and using data to improve performance; (3) Increasing teacher effectiveness and the equitable distribution of effective teachers; and (4) Turning around the lowest performing schools. By linking a commitment to the four assurances with receipt of funding, the Recovery Act signaled federal priorities; provided states, districts, and schools with incentives to initiate or intensify reforms in each of these areas; and encouraged states to pursue a combination of mutually supporting reform strategies. This report is part of the multi-year U.S. Department of Education (ED) evaluation &quot;Charting the Progress of Education Reform: An Evaluation of the Recovery Act's Role.&quot; ED seeks to understand through this evaluation how states, districts, and schools are working to implement the education reforms promoted by the Recovery Act. The current report focuses on whether, and how, state education agencies (SEAs) were implementing the reforms that the Recovery Act emphasized one year after the act was passed, and sets the stage for examination of implementation at the local level. It provides a picture of the prevalence and progress of the reform agenda promoted by the Recovery Act. A primary focus is SEA implementation of reforms in 2010-11, the first full school year after all Recovery Act funds were awarded. The education policies embedded in the Recovery Act were introduced into an ongoing stream of federal and state reform activity and states had undertaken some reforms before the act's passage. Therefore, the report also examines SEA implementation of reforms in 2009-10, and explores the extent to which 2010-11 reform activities represented progress. Specifically, this report addresses the following questions: (1) To what extent did SEAs report implementing key reform strategies promoted by the Recovery Act in the 2010-11 school year? (2) How much of the 2010-11 school year implementation reflects progress since the Recovery Act? and (3) What were the greatest reform implementation challenges for SEAs in the 2010-11 school year? Eight appendices include: (1) The Survey Development Process; (2) State-Level Indicators, Components, and Recovery Act Program Requirements; (3) SEA Implementation Progress from 2009-10 to 2010-11: Standards and Assessments; (4) Required Components of a Statewide P-16 Education Data System: America COMPETES Act of 2007; (5) SEA Implementation Progress From 2009-10 to 2010-11: Data Systems; (6) SEA Implementation Progress From 2009-10 to 2010-11: Educator Workforce Development; (7) SEA Implementation Progress From 2009-10 to 2010-11: Support for Improving Low-Performing Schools; and (8) Indicators by State. (Contains 59 tables, 15 footnotes, and 13 figures.)