Arne Duncan: Be Smart With Stimulus Money

The money that schools will receive from the stimulus package can go toward summer school and give extra pay to teachers who coach struggling colleagues. These are just two ideas that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has for the nation's schools, which will receive about $100 billion over the two-year life of the new stimulus law, the Associated Press reports.

Duncan suggested that schools add afternoons, weekends and summer days to school calendar because "many kids just need more time on task." A teaching mentor would help the younger, struggling teachers "get up to speed," he said.

Below are other stimulus funding ideas Duncan suggested that have proved successful in helping kids learn:

• sophisticated evaluation systems for teachers and principals;
• extra pay to reward excellence in teaching or to lure teachers and administrators into struggling schools;
• new charter schools;
• closing failing schools and reopening them with new staff;
• more technology for classrooms along with training for teachers; and
• modernized science labs and other facilities.

For the complete story, visit the Associated Press.