To achieve President Obama's stated goal of providing a world-class education to every child in America, the administration has designed a blueprint for a reenvisioned federal role in education through the reauthorization of the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act" ("ESEA"). The new "ESEA" will raise the bar for and reward excellence in performance, and promote innovative and continuous improvement in schools. This paper describes how the proposed "ESEA" will reward excellence and promote innovation in schools. [For the related report, "A Blueprint for Reform. The Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act", see ED508795.]