On May 25, U.S. Sec. of Education (ED) Arne Duncan and U.S. Sec. of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius announced that the Obama Administration has dedicated $500 million for Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC), a state-level grant competition to improve the quality of early childhood programs and transform early learning (read the press release or watch the recorded announcement). RTT-ELC demonstrates the Administration’s commitment to early learning and its belief that early childhood is one of our nation’s most important areas of investment.
The RTT-ELC competition will ask states to take a comprehensive approach to developing integrated and high-quality early learning systems in order to help more children, especially high-need children, succeed in school and life. HHS and ED are looking for innovate state proposals which will result in the growth of effective early learning models, assure high quality services, and improve child outcomes.
ED and HHS will obligate RTT-ELC funds prior to the end of the calendar year and expect to release a Notice of Funds Available (NOFA) by late summer. In order to do so, they are waiving the formal rulemaking process and comment period. Instead, they are soliciting feedback on the RTT-ELC Program blog hosted at ED.gov. The public may submit opinions, ideas, suggestions, and comments about the RTT-ELC competition to HHS and ED through the blog. More information about RTT-ELC and the application process–including guidance, eligibility, range of awards, and number of grants–will be posted to the blog as it becomes available in the coming weeks.
