Duncan Announces Pilot Program to Increase State-Tribal Collaboration

his entry is cross-posted from the ED.gov blog.

Providing the tools and flexibility to bolster successful education reforms at the community level has been the goal of the Obama Administration. From Race to the Top to NCLB flexibility, the Department of Education knows that one-size-fits-all policies don’t meet the needs of every school, student, teacher and parents.

This same approach is taken in a new pilot program announced this week by Secretary Duncan. The new program, “State-Tribal Education Partnership,” or STEP, will award $1.9 million in competitive grants to tribal education agencies to perform some state-level functions for certain federal grant programs.

When announcing the pilot program, Secretary Duncan noted that, “tribal leaders, teachers, and parents, are best-suited to identify and address the needs of their children.”

The STEP pilot program application is available at www.grants.gov (search for CFDA number 84.415) and will be due on July 13, 2012.

Click here for more information, and watch Secretary Duncan announce the pilot program: