Race to the Top is a historic federal project to investment in education reform, with $4.35 billion available to support states in their comprehensive educational reform. Funds are being disbursed in rounds. Round one and round two involved competitions amongst the states for grants based on their comprehensive plans to reform their schools and the statewide support for those plans. Reform plans include items such as adopting rigorous standards, elevating the teaching profession to reward excellence, turning around low-performing schools, and building better data systems to inform reform, among many others.
The round two competition is currently in progress. Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia applied for the second round, which has over $3 billion available for grants to the winners. Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the nineteen finalists: Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.
“Peer reviewers identified these nineteen finalists as having the boldest plans, but every state that applied will benefit from this process of collaboratively creating a comprehensive education reform agenda,” Duncan said in a prepared speech “From educators to parents and political leaders to journalists — there is a growing sense that a quiet revolution is underway in our homes and schools, classrooms, and communities. This quiet revolution is driven by motivated parents who want better educational options for their children. It’s being driven by great educators and administrators who are challenging the defeatism and inertia that has trapped generations of children in second-rate schools.”
The finalists will travel to Washington to present their plans to the peer reviewers who scored their applications. After the state’s presentations and an extended question-and-answer period, the peer reviewers will finalize their scores and comments. The winners will be announced in September.
Delaware and Tennessee won $600 million in the first round of funding.
Christi Grab is the author of the book The Unexpected Circumnavigation: Unusual Boat, Unusual People Part 1 – San Diego to Australia. and is currently working on Part 2 of the series.
