Innovation: Old School Reforms Win Big In i3

The first thing that jumped out to me was the $47 million for Ohio State University, not a name you hear often in school reform circles.  The other big grantees were familiar names - TFA, KIPP, etc. -- think of them what you will.

What was all that money for Ohio State actually for?  Reading Recovery.  That's right.  The costly, much-loved, completely out of fashion reading intervention program that was boxed out of Reading First and that most districts can't afford even if they wanted to.

Then again, Success For All got one of the big grants, too, and no one talks about them any more, either.  So perhaps education fashions aren't a good guide for anything, or -- just as likely -- some of the programs getting the biggest "innovation" funding in 2010 go back ten or twenty years.

For more about the i3 grants: Grants for Education Are Awarded (NYT), 49 Applicants Win i3 Grants (EdWeek), 49 finalists for US education innovation dollars (AP)