New York made the Race for the Top Sweet 16, making the state eligible for millions in education funding. New Yorkers should not get their hopes up; the DoE has already said there will be few winners in the first found and New York failed to pass changes to New York State law that would have made the state a viable candidate.
Suzi Oppenheimer had this to say:
“I am gratified that the Obama administration has named New York as one of 16 finalists in the federal Race to the Top competition. New York has long been a model of innovation and creativity in education and I fully expected our application to be competitive. I want to take this opportunity to thank President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan for championing the cause of education reform and recognizing the steps New York has taken to better prepare our students for success in the global marketplace. I look forward to the next phase of the competition and will continue to look for ways that we can enrich the educational experience of all our schoolchildren.”
The U.S. Department of Education announced today 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.
Arne Duncan had this to say:
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.
NYS Place in race to the top
New York State based on a clear assessment of published criteria for inclusion in this reform plan has no place as a finalist. The State’s usual practice of protecting its decision makers union contributions as well as the fear of parent backlash at the voting booth has led to a lack of direct action concerning Race to the top criteria vis a vis charter schools and student evaluation to mention two. The typical rhetoric from Oppenheimer, Regents and Education officials in the State and others simply mask the issue of whether Duncan and the federal government is serious about adhering to their own agenda or whether it will be yet another case of rhetoric over results.
If New York State qualifies it will be due to political expediency, not demonstrated fact and it will be another reason to take another look at whether we stand for anything as a nation any longer.
Yes,I do hope we get the funding, but I do not want it to happen on the back of integrity. I do not want it to represent adding to the bloat of a fully stuffed educational system and most of all, not to the lining of pockets of pols who have long ago surrendered integrity for self interest.
I ask you to carefully track this outcome — if Duncan indicates to New York that it is not in the running because it has not met Race to the top criteria, the kids actually win. If he gives in, the kids lose and all serious and committed people ought to see this without rheotoric, false fact, and rationalization. Let’s see what happens.
Warren Gross