Senator Coons today praised the President’s new Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge, which allocates $500 million in state-level competitive grants that helps states improve and expand access to early education. The program was launched today at a press conference with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.
The Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge will reward states that develop comprehensive plans for transforming their early learning systems with better coordination, clearer learning standards, and meaningful workforce development. States applying for challenge grants will be encouraged to increase access to quality early learning programs for low income and disadvantaged children, design integrated and transparent systems that align their early care and education programs, bolster training and support for the early learning workforce, create robust evaluation systems to document and share effective practices and successful programs, and help parents make informed decisions about care for their children.
Chris is no stranger to the positive impact early learning programs have on students’ overall educational achievement, earlier this month he joined Senators Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Al Franken (D-Minn.) on a letter to Secretary Duncan and Sebelius urging them to implement the type of grant program described in the bill. The full letter can be read below.
Senator Coons was also an original cosponsor of the Supporting State Systems of Early Learning Act (S. 470) that would create a similar grant program.