Today the NJ Department of Education submitted its application for the third round of the federal Race To The Top competition. This proposal targets early child education – 75,000 poor kids from birth to age 5 – who don’t live in Abbott districts. (Abbotts already have comprehensive programs.)

In a press release, the DOE laid out four priorities imbedded in our grant application: improving existing programs by expanding our in-state accountability metrics; regional training programs for staff members; increasing family access to information; and improving data analysis through a new program called NJ-EASEL that would track children and programs.