On Tuesday Ohio was approved for $400 million in funding from the federal Race to the Top school reform grant program. This was the maximum amount Ohio requested.
Race to the Top is a $787 billion federal stimulus package that rewards states promising education reforms designed to improve outcomes and boost high-school retention rates and college preparedness.
This was the second-round of funding awarded for Race to the Top - only Delaware and Tennessee received funding in the first-round.
“Our students deserve every opportunity to succeed in and beyond the classroom, and I believe the creative and forward-thinking initiatives outlined in our winning application provide just that,” said Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. “Ohio has shown its commitment to encouraging innovation by passing successful economic development initiatives like Ohio Third Frontier, and this award builds on our job creation strategy by helping prepare the next generation of Ohio entrepreneurs and innovators.”
The Race to the Top application was submitted by the Ohio Department of Education in June. Ohio was selected as a finalist in late July and a team from Ohio presented to the U.S. Department of Education earlier this month.
Ohio has 538 school districts and individual schools representing about 1 million children who agreed to participate in Race to the Top programs. At least $200 million is heading directly to participating schools.
From K-12 schools that challenge and inspire students to be imaginative and analytical in their thinking, to post secondary institutions that develop hard-working, highly skilled graduates -- Ohio is continually ensuring that employers have a competitive advantage in the 21st century global marketplace.
For more information about Race to the Top and Ohio's commitment to education, click here.
For Cara Dingus Brook, achieving the State of Perfect Balance is a full-time pursuit. As president and chief executive officer of the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, Brook is dedicated to her personal and professional mission of enhancing quality of life for those living in Appalachian Ohio by creating educational opportunities through community investment.
According to Brook, Ohio’s location has been the key to her success. “In Ohio, my personal and professional goals come together in perfect balance. With the support of this community's caring spirit, we're helping students fulfill their aspirations,” said Brook. "Together, we're making a positive impact on education that will last for generations.”
The Foundation for Appalachian Ohio (FAO) was created in 1998 as a regional community foundation serving the 32 counties of Appalachian Ohio. As a 501(c)(3) public charity, the Foundation works with donors and those who care deeply about the region to support regional improvement through the power of charitable giving.
Over the past decade, enrollment at U.S. institutions of higher learning has grown by more than 25 percent, reaching 18.5 million in 2007. Much of the growth is due to a boom in adult and distance learning – a trend that Dr. Michael Mark recognized nearly two decades ago.
While serving as director of adult learning services at a major state institution, his passion for quality education inspired him to seek a better way for his distance-learning students to obtain their course materials. Finding none, he created his own.
Two companies later, Dr. Mark is credited with creating a niche industry around the fulfillment of content and course materials for distance learning, career and multi-campus colleges.
A native New Yorker, Dr. Mark went to college at Ohio University and found that Appalachia was “just too pretty a place to leave.” And, when it came time to start his companies, the serial entrepreneur found the ideal business startup location in Ohio’s Enterprise Appalachia.
“I am here because of the Ohio Promise,” Dr. Mark shared in a recent interview with me. “My favorite thing about living in Ohio’s Enterprise Appalachian Region is that you can achieve professional success within the context of a fulfilling life.”
Click here to read the rest of my interview with Dr. Mark.
Instead of competing with one another, two of Northeast Ohio’s largest hospitals have decided to join forces. The newly announced collaboration amongst The Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth System connects five high-level departments to best serve Northern Ohio's most severely injured patients. The network – called Northern Ohio Regional Trauma Network, or NORTN – means that badly injured patients who are treated at MetroHealth or the Clinic's four area hospitals will have care that is coordinated among specialists who draw from the expertise at both institutions, underscoring the power of creating synergies amongst Ohio’s skilled workforce.
With the new trauma network, clinicians will share best medical practices and work together to ensure that patients are transported to the hospital that can best care for their particular level of trauma. Behind the scenes, clinicians will share protocols and compare notes and outcomes to improve treatment. Highlighting both the strength and resources of Ohio’s medical care facilities, the collaboration involves a $2.4 million donation over the next two years by The Cleveland Clinic to a foundation earmarked for use by MetroHealth to offset the costs of uncompensated care and support education and research in trauma care.
Click here to read the full article on Cleveland.com.
In an article titled, “The 10 Best College Presidents: Ohio State's Gee and Nine Other Dynamos,” Time Magazine declares Ohio State University’s president – Gordon Gee – one of the best college presidents in the U.S., underscoring the powerful influence of Ohio’s largest higher education institution.
The author of the article asserts that the U.S. needs to step up its game in terms of education, become more creative, more flexible and more innovative in more ways. Gee is doing just that. As president of the Ohio State University and one of the most experienced university executives in the U.S., Gee is campaigning for a revolution in higher education.
Gee talks with Time about his belief that universities today must be engines of regional economies. When a company is looking to hire new employees, it isn't the percentage of the total population that matters. Instead, it is the number of available people with the right knowledge and skills from which employers can choose. With the nation’s preeminent leader in higher education, it’s no surprise that Ohio’s workforce is marked with educated and skilled employees.
Gee’s higher education leadership philosophy centers on preparing students for the real world. "We make no apologies," Gee said, for "working to ensure that our graduates have the skills needed to thrive." Learning to think critically need not conflict with learning to work productively, he suggested.
Click here to read the full Time Magazine article about why Ohio State’s higher education leader is considered one of the best in the nation.
Race to the Top is a $787 billion federal stimulus package that rewards states promising education reforms designed to improve outcomes and boost high-school retention rates and college preparedness.
