ELL-Focused Projects Are Big Winners in Investing in Innovation Competition

From http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2012/11/ell-focused_projects_are_big_w.html

ELL-Focused Projects Are Big Winners in i3 Competition
By Lesli A. Maxwell
November 8, 2012

The U.S. Department of Education has announced 20 awards in the latest round of its Investing in Innovation competition, and proposals that pledge to improve outcomes for English-language learners are well-represented in the winners' circle.

Winners of the i3 competition—some school districts; others, nonprofit organizations—will share $150 million in federal prize money to help underwrite their various projects. As a condition of getting the federal money, they must secure private matching funds.

Under the department's rules for the competition, proposals had to include one of six areas (teachers and principals, STEM, standards, to name a few) as a chief focus, or "absolute priority," in Education Department parlance. But under a second tier of five "competitive preference priorities," applicants could earn additional points for targeting, for example, English-language learners and/or students with disabilities. According to the department, eight winning applicants did just that.

Read about the winning projects that have a focus in English language learners at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2012/11/ell-focused_projects_are_big_w.html