Obama to visit Virginia school Graham Road Elementary today

President Barack Obama will visit Graham Road Elementary school today in Falls Church, Virginia to talk about his Race to the Top program.  I personally think that education can fall by the wayside because it is not immediately felt in the economy.  What a grave mistake that can be as the here and now always becomes the future.  While I do not know if I fully agree with the program, I am glad that Obama is doing something to push the education system.

Here is a quick overview from the U.S. Department of Education

Through Race to the Top, we are asking States to advance reforms around four specific areas:

• Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy;
• Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction;
• Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and
• Turning around our lowest-achieving schools.

Awards in Race to the Top will go to States that are leading the way with ambitious yet achievable plans for implementing coherent, compelling, and comprehensive education reform. Race to the Top winners will help trail-blaze effective reforms and provide examples for States and local school districts throughout the country to follow as they too are hard at work on reforms that can transform our schools for decades to come.

This is a bit of a competition and the Obama is looking to request $1.35 billion for the program in his Fiscal Year 2011 budget.  This program is one of the largest investments in education reform we have seen and it looks like we will be seeing more of the program in the next few weeks with a companion program Invest in the Innovation Fund.