Mass. wins federal grant for early education

BOSTON -- Massachusetts is one of nine states sharing a $500 million federal grant to improve early childhood education.

The money is part of the Obama administration's Race to the Top education initiative. The winning states were announced Friday.

The goal of the competition was to get more young children ready for kindergarten.

States were asked to show commitment to making early education programs more available, coordinated and more effective. They were also asked to focus on professional development for teachers and assessing the education level of kids entering kindergarten.

Thirty-five states, along with Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, competed for the grants.

Massachusetts also won a Race to the Top grant last year to help turn around low-performing schools.

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