Race to the Top

Race to the Top, abbreviated R2T, RTTT or RTT, is a $4.35 billion United States Department of Education program designed to spur reforms in state and local district K-12 education. It is funded by the ED Recovery Act as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and was announced by President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on July 24, 2009.[1]

Evaluation of program

Although many states have competed to win the grants, the Race to the Top competition has also been criticized by some policy and thought leaders, as well as some practitioners in the field of education. Two major sources of criticism have been from teachers’ unions and those opposed to what they see as interference from the federal government. In explaining why Texas would not be applying for Race to the Top funding, Governor Rick Perry stated, “we would be foolish and irresponsible to place our children’s future in the hands of unelected bureaucrats and special interest groups thousands of miles away in Washington.”[14]

Critics further contend that the reforms being promoted are unproven or have been unsuccessful in the past. Former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch, for example, commented that empirical evidence “shows clearly that choice, competition and accountability as education reform levers are not working.” [15] A coalition of civil rights organizations, including the Urban League, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Rainbow Push Coalition released a statement that “Such an approach reinstates the antiquated and highly politicized frame for distributing federal support to states that civil rights organizations fought to remove in 1965.”[16][17] Finally, the Economic Policy Institute released a report in April 2010 finding that “the selection of Delaware and Tennessee was subjective and arbitrary, more a matter of bias or chance than a result of these states’ superior compliance with reform policies.” [18]

On May 26, 2010, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell withdrew the state from the second round of the competition. Virginia finished 31st out of 41 states in the first round, but McDonnell said that Virginia would not continue for the second round, believing the competition required the use of common education performance standards instead of Virginia’s current standards. In fact, the use of common performance standards is not required.[19][20] Although McDonnell supported the Race to the Top program during his campaign for governor,[21] he claimed on his June 1 appearance on MS-NBC that the Race to the Top rules precluded participating states from adopting more rigorous standards in addition to whatever multi-state standards they join.[22][23] However, in some cases, “Race to the Top” regulations award the points even if states adopt standards more rigorous than the optional, common standards.[24]

Ohio was a Finalist in the first year and was awared $400 million in the second year.

Further reading

 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_Top

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2 Responses to “Race to the Top”

  1. Administrator says:
    July 24, 2011 at 11:25 am

    . Ohio is one of at least 37 states expected to apply for the newest piece of President Barack Obama’s multi-billion dollar Race to the Top program with the latest contest focusing on early childhood education.
    . U.S. Department of Education officials said Tuesday that Ohio signaled its intention to compete for $500 million in grants to transform the state’s early childhood education systems.
    . Kentucky, Michigan and West Virginia also plan for plan to compete for the program, education department officials said.
    . Ron Nichols, aide to Gov. John Kasich, said they were watching the proposal “closely” as it develops. “The governor was a big fan of the original Race to the Top program. He thinks very highly of Secretary (Arne) Duncan’s vision for it,” Nichols said. “We look forward to reviewing this proposal more closely to see how it aligns with his ideas.”
    . In 2010, Ohio was awarded a $400 million Race to the Top grant that districts across the state will use to improve K-12 education, teacher evaluations and other school programs. Preschool is no different, Nichols said. “Obviously, the governor spotted significant areas for reform including early education. It is profoundly important.” He said.
    . Ohio now spends $83 million, a fraction of the Ohio Department of Education’s $10 billion, for early learning despite growing agreement among educators of its importance, according to the biennium budget approved by state lawmakers.
    . There is no longer has a state-funded Head Start preschool program to serve low-income students.
    . Ohio relies solely on federal grants to fund service to 50,000 preschoolers annually – roughly half the number of students who meet the poverty eligibility requirements, said Barbara Haxton, executive director of the Ohio Head Start Association, headquartered in Dayton.
    . Source: Ohio to join the Race to the Top By Christopher Magan Dayton Daily News. Published in The Enquirer 7/24/11 B2

  2. Administrator says:
    July 1, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    Winton Woods $750,000, Oak Hills $600,00, CPS $250,000 and charter school East End Community Heritage School $61,000 are among 45 schools or districts to receive $16.2 million in Innovation Grants.
    Source: ‘Race to Top’ grants: $1.6 million locally By Jessica Brown The Enquirer 7/1/11 C4

    Other Hamilton County participating LEAS (Source ODE):
    VLT academy
    Dear park
    Winton Woods
    CPS
    HCH
    Princeton
    Reading
    ST. Bernard
    Finneytown
    Lockland
    Mt Healthy
    Northwest
    Oak Hills
    Phoenix Comm
    Riverside Acad
    Life Skills of Cinti
    Life Skills of Hamilton
    East End Comm Heritage
    Cinti Speech and Reading Intl
    Horizon Science Acad

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