President Barack Obama has packed a number of his campaign promises related to education into his "Race to the Top" program, which seeks to encourage innovative approaches to teaching and learning by having states compete for $4.35 billion worth of grants from the Department of Education. The program was funded through the Obama-backed economic stimulus package approved by Congress in February.

In a speech in Madison, Wis., on Nov. 4, Obama announced the criteria for states to win the grants.

One of those is to encourage the reward of effective teachers and to provide incentives to keep those teachers in struggling schools that need them.

"And that means creating alternate pathways to teaching for talented young people by expanding programs like the one used in Boston, where aspiring teachers work side-by-side with effective mentors in a yearlong residency," Obama said. "It means bringing quality teachers in -- it means bringing quality teachers to the neighborhoods that need them the most, because right now a lot of what happens is, is that some of the best teachers, as they get seniority, they move on to the places -- the school districts that pay better and, frankly, are easier to teach. And we've got to give them some incentives to stay so that the kids who need the most help are getting some of the best teachers."

The Notice of Priorities for the "Race to the Top" grants talks about "ensuring equitable distribution of effective teachers and principals."
 
Rewarded will be "the extent to which the State has a high-quality plan and ambitious yet achievable annual targets to increase the number and percentage of highly effective teachers and principals in high-poverty schools, and to increase the number and percentage of effective teachers teaching hard-to-staff subjects including mathematics, science, special education, English language proficiency, and other hard-to-staff subjects identified by the State or LEA (local educational agencies). Plans may include, but are not limited to, the implementation of incentives and strategies in areas such as recruitment, compensation, career development, and human resources practices and processes."

Competition for the grants will be conducted in two rounds -- the first starting this month and the second in June next year -- with winners announced in April and September next year.
 
But by establishing a competitive grant program that encourages the very thing Obama talked about in his campaign promise, we move this one to In the Works.