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16 Finalists Announced in Phase 1 of Race to the Top Competition
Finalists to Present in Mid-March; Winners Announced in Early April
Today the Department of Education announced that 15 states and the
District of Columbia will advance as finalists for phase 1 of the Race
to the Top competition. Race to the Top is the Department's $4.35
billion effort to dramatically re-shape America's educational system to
better engage and prepare our students for success in a competitive 21st
century economy and workplace.
States competing for Race to the
Top funds were asked to document past education reform successes, as
well as outline plans to: extend reforms using college and career-ready
standards and assessments; build a workforce of highly effective
educators; create educational data systems to support student
achievement; and turn around their lowest-performing schools.
The
phase 1 finalists are:
Colorado
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Kentucky
Louisiana
Massachusetts
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
"These states are an example for the
country of what is possible when adults come together to do the right
thing for children," Secretary 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 5 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.
Choosing
Winners from Among the Finalists
The finalists will be invited to DC
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 website 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.
Number of Winners & Award Sizes
The number of phase
1 winners will be determined by the strength of the applications. While
the department does not have a predetermined amount of money to award in
each phase of the competition, we expect no more than half of the money
will be awarded in phase 1 to ensure a robust competition in phase 2.
"We are setting a high bar and we anticipate very few winners in phase
1. But this isn't just about the money. It's about collaboration among
all stakeholders, building a shared agenda, and challenging ourselves to
improve the way our students learn. I feel that every state that has
applied is a winner—and the biggest winners of all are the students,"
Duncan said.
Of the $4.35 billion in Race to the Top funds
provided under the Recovery Act, the Department will distribute
approximately $4 billion directly to states to drive education reform
and $350M to consortia of states that compete in a separate competition
to create new college and career-ready assessments. The assessment
competition is still in the design phase.
Based on Race to the Top's
early positive effect on national education reform, President Obama
proposed to continue the program next year by requesting $1.35 billion
in the Administration's FY 2011 budget.
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