James H. Shelton III

Shelton said there would also be "a push on the charter front to get more innovation in that space."

Race to the Top Fund

Still in its infancy, the Race to the Top Fund (RTT) has already succeeded in drawing much criticism and controversy.

The initial purpose of RTT was to encourage states, and subsequently their school systems, to embark on new initiatives to improve educational quality - like finding better ways to evaluate teachers and opening charter schools. However, almost from the get-go, opponents have voiced concern over what they say is an all-too-cozy relationship between Bill Gates, known to them as the "secretary of education," and the DOE.

In 2009, excluded states cried foul after learning that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation offered to help a favored states apply for RTT grants. The foundation was accused of handpicking which states would receive the grants. Soon afterwards, the foundation agreed to help any state that met eight criteria.

Invest in Innovation (i3 Fund)

Shelton has said that the stimulus money coming through the states is "likely to be the largest one-time investment for transformation that they're going to see for sometime, if not ever."

With $650 million in the Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) to award to school districts and nonprofit groups that demonstrate success in increasing academic achievement for all students, there's pressure to make sure that the awardees follow through in every way.

"If they're not thinking about it that way, then they are putting themselves in a position where, not even four years from now, they could wind up at the edge of a cliff finding that they need to do transformation work and have no money to do it," he said.

The grant proposals that will catch Shelton's eye will "expand proven and scalable models regionally and nationally to inspire public and decision makers; build scaling capacity of key, high-impact programs and organizations; demonstrate, validate, and codify promising evidence-supported models; create platforms that facilitate innovation efforts and broad adoption of 'what works;' and create new breakthrough models."

But the real work won't end there.

"The real innovation work that has to happen is figuring out how we actually increase our productivity to the point where people get better outcomes with fewer resources than we spend today," he said.

Charter Schools

During June 2009 testimony before the House Education and Labor Committee, Shelton said, "Our goal is to improve education on every level for all students. This must include improving the quality of traditional public schools and public charter schools."

During his testimony, Shelton added that it was the administration's intent to "double support for charter schools over the next four years." Shelton told the committee the DOE believes charter schools will play an essential role in education reform.

Opponents, however, believe the push for more charter schools is once again the Gates Foundation rearing its head. The National Education Association, the largest teachers' union has come out against many of the goals that are shared by the Obama administration and the Gates Foundation, including increased emphasis on standardized testing.

"Despite growing evidence to the contrary, it appears the administration has decided that charter schools are the only answer to what ails America's public schools," the National Education Association has said.

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