In a recent news interview, President Obama discusses his “Race To The Top Initiative,” a $4.35 billion stimulus plan to improve education. The U.S. Dept. of Education said it’s the largest federal investment in school reform in the U.S.

States will essentially compete for the funds based on how well they’ve managed money already received. From a statement by Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education:

To win the race, states have to have standards and tests that prepare students to succeed in college and careers. They’ll need to recruit and reward excellent teachers and principals. They must have data systems to track students’ progress and to identify effective teachers. They must identify their lowest-performing schools and take dramatic action to turn them around.

Obama discussed the initiative and other issues in an interview with The Washington Post. From that:

Q. Let me ask you about the Race to the Top. No administration as far as we can tell has ever provided this amount of money with so few congressionally mandated strictures on how it should be spent. There are critics out there who say it’s essentially a blank check, and they worry about the accountability of where that money is going. How can you be sure  — what do you say to that, and how can you be sure that this money is going to actually produce the results that you hope?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think the proof of the pudding is, number one, in the quality of the competition that’s been set up. I think if you take a look at the requirements for obtaining these grants, it is based on the very best evidence about what works. Arne Duncan has gone through and talked to every educational expert out there, and they have arrived at a consensus that if you’re improving teacher quality, you’re combining that with high standards, you’ve got strong data to back it up, you’re focusing on low-performing schools and not just the upper tier—that all those things in combination produce results.

And so this is a classic example, I think, of evidence-based policymaking. It’s not based on politics; it’s not based on who’s got more clout; it’s not based on what certain constituency groups are looking for; but it’s based on what works. Now, what we’re also doing, though, is we’re saying this is voluntary. If there are states that just don’t want to go in this direction, that’s their prerogative.