Dive Brief:

• The Idaho Department of Education has selected 15 schools to split $3 million in technology funds.
• The goal is for schools to use this money to test technologies they may not have otherwise been able to and to ultimately boost academic performance.  
• Applications for the funding were received from 99 schools. 

Dive Insight:

Idaho's decision to give out innovation/technology money is a great idea and will really make a difference for those schools. So what are the winning ideas? One school will use the funds to purchase tablets for students. Another will use Chromebook to tailor learning programs to students and their personal computers. While it's exciting for these schools, grant competitions like this (and Race to the Top) always have the downside of leaving the losing schools (or states) in the lurch.