Race to the Top Round Two Winners Announced

Race to the Top Round Two: 10 states win federal funding
Washington's Reform Challenge

Race to the Top Round Two: 10 states win federal funding

On August 24, 2010, the U.S. Department of Education announced the round two winners of the $4.35 billion federal grant competition, Race to the Top. The ten winning round two applicants (District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island) now join the round one winners, Delaware and Tennessee, as groundbreaking leaders in education reform - reforms that will include:

Adopting commons standards and assessments;
Building robust data systems that measure student growth and success;
Implementing comprehensive human capital provisions; and
Turning around the lowest-performing schools.

For a summary of highlights and observations from Race to the Top Round Two Winners, please view our analysis.

For official rankings from Race to the Top Round Two, please view the U.S. Department of Education's website.

Washington's Reform Challenge

If Washington isn't Racing to the Top, Where are we Going?

With a total of 290.6 points out of a possible 500, Washington state ranked 32nd out of 36 applicants in round two of Race to the Top.

Scoring better than only Alabama, Maine, Mississippi and Montana, Washington’s application struggled to present a strong education reform platform, strategic plan and willingness to make the legislative changes necessary to support critical reforms. While Washington fared well in its application in the categories of data systems, turning around the lowest performing schools and emphasizing improvement in STEM subjects, without provisions that maintain high standards and assessments, authorize high-quality charter schools and allow student achievement data to be tied to an educator’s evaluation, Washington will continue to play catch-up in the race to accelerate student performance.

There is much to be learned from the twelve winning Race to the Top states, and reviewers' comments and feedback on Washington’s application indicate that much work remains to be done in order to improve our education system. As Washington state moves forward with finalizing its Education Reform Plan, it is imperative that state leaders thoughtfully incorporate the feedback from Washington’s Race to the Top application.

For a summary of the feedback Washington's Race to the Top application received from the U.S. Department of Education, please view our analysis.