The U.S. Education Department is doing some interesting work with its competitive grant contests, i3 and Race to the Top, but there are now questions about early learning’s role in these battles for better education systems.
Some child care advocates criticized the finalists announced this month for i3, officially known as Investing in Innovation, for not including enough early learning work, EarlyStories reports. Today, the Hechinger Institute blog covers the response from Ed Department leaders, who said there is plenty of early learning among the finalists.
Early Ed Watch questions some of the scoring of i3 grant applications, “Inconsistencies in Scores for i3’s Early Learning Winners.”
Folks who are tracking federal efforts to encourage early learning innovation should check out both stories.