More than 400 proposals to improve STEM education are expected from applicants competing for a slice of $150 million in federal cash under Round Two of the federal Investing in Innovation, or i3, program, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Over at Politics K-12, my colleague Michele McNeil gives you the full scoop on what's going on with i3. But as your faithful curriculum reporter, I was struck by the fact that STEM education was the most popular of five categories of grants.

STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—was actually added as an "absolute priority" by the Education Department for the second round of i3, and is the only one pegged to a particular content area.

A full one-third of those signaling an intent to apply for an i3 grant, 426, are categorized as STEM proposals, according to a summary document issued this week. The other absolute priority areas are effective teachers and principals, standards and assessments, low-performing schools, and rural districts (which was also added for this second round).

Some readers may recall that a number of STEM proposals did win grants in the first round of i3.

Read More here: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2011/07/stem_education_proposals_are_l.html