The fierce competition for billions of dollars in federal funding to improve education…just got a little tougher. At stake, $4.35 billion from the US Department of Education. Today, the Department announced the 16 finalists who will compete for money in phase one of the ‘Race to the Top’ grant program.
‘Race to the Top’ was designed to “re-shape America’s educational system” and help prepare students “in a competitive 21st century economy and workplace,” according to the Department.
President Barack Obama unveiled the grant program late last year from a middle school in Madison, WI. At the time, several state legislatures, including Wisconsin and Nevada, were racing against the clock to change specific education laws dealing with teacher performance, in order to even qualify to apply for the program. Neither Wisconsin or Nevada made the cut to become one of the 16 finalists.
Out of 40 states that applied for funding, Minnesota was also on the chopping block. Minnesota Governor ‘s Deputy Chief of Staff, Brian McClung, issued the following statement criticizing the state’s teachers union for preventing Minnesota from qualifying for the federal funding.
“It’s hard to race to the top with an anchor tied to your leg. For years the teachers union has fought against any meaningful education reforms. First they opposed charter schools and open enrollment and now they’re fighting tenure reform and meaningful performance pay for teachers. If Minnesota is to have any chance of success in round two of this competition, the legislature must adopt these types of reforms immediately.”
Illinois is one of the 16 finalists to make the list. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) said he hopes Illinois can secure $510 million for education reform efforts.
Next up, reps from each state will travel to Washington, DC for a formal presentation. Winners are announced in early April. States that did not make the cut this time around can reapply this summer to be considered for the second round of Race to the Top funding.
The Phase 1 finalists are (in alphabetical order):
* Colorado
* Delaware
* District of Columbia
* Florida
* Georgia
* Illinois
* Kentucky
* Louisiana
* Massachusetts
* New York
* North Carolina
* Ohio
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* South Carolina
* Tennessee
Read more from US Dept of Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, below.
“These states are an example for the country of what is possible when adults come together to do the right thing for children,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said.
“Everyone that applied for Race to the Top is charting a path for education reform in America,” Duncan continued. “I salute all of the applicants for their hard work. And I encourage non-finalists to reapply for Phase 2.”
The 16 finalists were chosen from among the 40 states and the District of Columbia that submitted applications for Phase 1. Winners for Phase 1 will be chosen from among the 16 finalists and announced in April. Applications for Phase 2 will be due on June 1 of this year, with finalists announced in August and winners in September. The only states prohibited from applying in Phase 2 are those that receive awards in Phase 1.
HOW FINALISTS WERE CHOSEN
Panels of five peer reviewers independently read and scored each state’s application. The panels then met in February to finalize their comments and submit scores. Each state’s score is the average of the five independent reviewers’ scores.
The Department arranged the applications in order from high to low scores and determined which applicants were the strongest competitors to invite back based on “natural breaks” – i.e. scoring gaps in the line-up. The top 16 applications were then selected as finalists. All 41 applicants from Phase 1 will receive their peer reviewers’ comments and scores after the winners are announced in April. The Department will post the scores and applications on its Web site (www.ed.gov).
CHOOSING WINNERS FROM AMONG THE FINALISTS
The finalists will be invited to Washington, D.C., in mid-March to present their proposals to the panel that reviewed their applications in depth during the initial stage, and to engage in Q&A discussions with the reviewers.
The purpose of the finalist stage is to allow reviewers to ensure that the state has the understanding, knowledge, capacity, and the will to truly deliver on what is proposed. The presentations will be videotaped and posted for viewing on the Department’s Web site at the end of Phase 1.
At the conclusion of the presentations, the reviewers will meet again to discuss each application, finalize scores and comments, and submit them to the Department. Again, the final score for each application will be an average of the five peer reviewers’ scores. The scores will be arranged in order from high to low and presented to Secretary Duncan for final selection.