The Department's independent research arm, IES is going to be conducting several studies to determine the effectiveness of the various education programs under the ARRA, including the Race to the Top. According to the Ed Week article, the Department's in-house research shop (my erstwhile home), the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, will also lend a hand.
Congrats to IES and OPEPD for getting this started. This subject is of particular interest to me, but given that these programs are worth billions and will greatly influence schools for some time, I hope others follow these developments closely.
Based on the way the studies are described in the article, it looks like the Department is going to try a variety of approaches. Particularly interesting is the suggestion that they want to do both longer-term "pure research" and more "operational" research that will allow for the Department and grant recipients to make mid-course corrections.
I'm a fan of the career staff in both IES and OPEPD--they produce interesting, important research that's too often overlooked. The political (not a pejorative) head of IES, John Wilson, describes a thoughtful process for the research. And the external advisory group has some highly regarded folks.
They have a long, difficult slog ahead, but the Department's off on the right foot.