• Race to the Top Round Two: 19 Finalists Make the Cut
• Washington's Application Falls Short

Race to the Top Round Two: 19 Finalists Make the Cut

"With a budget of just $5 billion dollars -- less than one percent of total education spending in America -- this minor provision in the Recovery Act has unleashed an avalanche of pent-up education reform activity at the state and local level."

Today, the Obama administration named 18 states and the District of Columbia as finalists in the Race to the Top grant competition. Washington was not among them.

Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia applied for part of the $3.4 billion available under the federal grant. The finalists are 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.

Applications were evaluated against a 500 point rubric and a nationwide network of 58 peer reviewers that included teachers, principals, superintendents, college professors, scholars, business leaders and education advocates advised education Secretary Arne Duncan in his decision. All round two finalists scored over 400 points, including finalists from round  that did not win.

The road ahead for the 19 finalists includes a trip to Washington D.C. to meet with Secretary Duncan and senior staff from the Department of Education to verify and clarify the states’ reform plan to ensure that implementation is possible. The winners are scheduled to be announced in September and, following the announcement, the department will publish the scores and comments for each applicant. According to the Department of Education, up to 12 states will likely win grant funding.

View PFL’s spotlight on bold round two finalists.

For information, read Sec. Duncan’s Race to the Top announcement speech.

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Washington's Application Falls Short

Though Washington leaders will not know how the state scored on Race to the Top until September, the message is clear: Our state has a long way to go to ensure the success of every student and our state’s “business as usual” approach simply doesn’t meet the high bar for reform set by the federal government.

Despite this setback, Washington cannot stand still. Instead, the state must redouble its efforts to put in place policies and programs that will raise student achievement and close Washington’s growing achievement gap. Now is not the time to shelve the good work that went into our state’s Race to the Top application. Washington leaders must press onward and use the significant district and union support they were able to gather for the application to drive real reforms that produce real results for our students.

As part of Washington’s Race to the Top application, state leaders submitted the beginning of an Education Reform Plan for Washington state. This plan represents a step forward for Washington, but a plan is only as successful as its implementation. State agencies must reorganize themselves to finalize, implement and deliver on this plan as soon as possible. This move would demonstrate that Washington is serious about achieving better outcomes for students, regardless of receiving federal grant dollars.

And, with the Obama Administration signaling that there will likely be a third round of Race to the Top funding, making progress on education reform policies, programs and Washington’s Education Reform Plan is important. Specific reforms that Washington leaders can act on in the coming months to increase student achievement and our state’s competitiveness for future grants include:

1. Implementing college and work ready graduation requirements;
2. Implementing a strong accountability system to turn around low-performing schools;
3. Strengthening state and district teacher effectiveness policies so that they recognize and reward outstanding teachers;
4. Reorganizing state education agencies to implement and deliver on the state’s education reform plan; amd
5. Developing a framework to allow for more innovative schools to open in Washington.

Implementing these reforms will put Washington on the path federal education policy is headed.  The Department of Education has said that Race to the Top will be the new frame for the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  This means that Washington, and its one million students, cannot afford to be out of step with this national movement toward reform.

For a brief summary of Washington’s Race to the Top application, please view our analysis.

To view Washington’s reaction to the Race to the Top finalist announcement, visit Gov. Gregoire’s website.

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