Finalists named for Race to the Top, Round One

US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan named 16 finalists today in the first round of its “Race to the Top” (RttT) competition, which will deliver $4.35 billion in school reform grants.  The 16 finalists include Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee.  See the announcement here:

Round one finalists are invited to Washington D.C. on March 15th to defend their applications and convince Secretary Duncan and his review panel that they are worthy of the federal funding requested.  Secretary Duncan stated in his conference call today that he is looking for states that show “courage, collaboration and commitment” in their face-to-face interviews with the review panel.  Duncan also made it clear that RttT promises to “only reward excellence”.

President Obama stated when he introduced RttT in July of ’09 that the competition is designed to fund true educational reform as opposed to funding the status quo.  Serious contenders must demonstrate a commitment to reform in the areas of using data to increase achievement, improving teacher and administrator evaluation and improving failing schools.

It’s obvious that the Obama administration and Secretary Duncan are serious about reform.  The 16 finalists will be required to demonstrate a history of reform efforts and success with those policies.  I imagine they will also be looking for states whose local legislatures have been busy backing up their RttT applications by passing educational reform legislation like charter school reform.  I am sure that those states whose legislative bodies are ‘walking the walk’ when it comes to their applications will gain specific favor and consideration from the administration.

Don’t be surprised if there are very few states named as round one winners in April.  I expect the Obama administration to send a clear message by selecting as few as 4 or 5 winners.  The message to the losing states will be:  “if you are not serious about the type of reform that RttT is initiating, do not expect to be awarded funding”.   Let’s not forget that this is, in fact, a competition.  If this is the case, and only a small handful of states are awarded funding in round one, this will leave a large sum of money for round two. Secretary Duncan stated in his conference call today that he only expects to award $2 billion dollars in round one, and possible even less than that.

When the round one winners are announced in April the round one losers will be provided with feedback from the administration and can then revamp their applications and resubmit as part of round two in June.  That is where things will really get interesting.  States will be better prepared to apply for funds and the competition will be even stiffer.  One thing is for sure, RttT is creating a lot of excitement in the world of education.