Taking the Pole Position on Race

Eduflack Gates Foundation, RTT

Those Phase One Race to the Top finalists have now been announced.  As we all know by now, the 16 jurisdictions that will now vie for the honor of being the first three or four states to win a RttT grant include: Colorado, Delaware, Washington DC, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

For Eduflack, the only real surprise here is Washington, DC (which is a pleasant surprise).  The remaining 15 are all states that have been on most lists for some time.  While a few may be surprised by Illinois, those doubters should read the proposal.  It was one of the strongest in the pool.  And while some may question South Carolina, the state has been touting it has the best application in the pool.  So no major surprised there.

Now let’s take a look at some of the interesting facts.  Back in the summer, the Gates Foundation provided $250,000 grants to 15 states to help with the development of their Race grants.  Fourteen of those states submitted for Phase One (Texas was the holdout), and 10 of those 14 made the cut — Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.  And of the remaining six finalists, four of them received later assistance from Gates, after NGA and CCSSO urgings.  Only Delaware and South Carolina did the heavy lifting themselves.

The four Gates-funded states who didn’t make the cut?  Arkansas, Arizona, Minnesota, and New Mexico.  (Along with the Republic of Texas, of course.)

Only one of the 16 states — Colorado — is west of Mississippi.  That seems a bit surprising, but the scoring rubric didn’t take geography into account.  The South is particularly well represented, which some could see as a sign of the region’s willingness to embrace education reforms and others may see as the value of right to work states and weaker teachers’ unions/organizations.

And for you history buffs, eight of the original 13 colonies made the cut!  Condolences to New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia.

According to the US Department of Education, each of these states scored at least 80 percent — or 400 points — on the reviewer scores.  States will be coming to DC in a week and a half (without their consultants and outside proposal preparers) to orally defend their proposals.  And states will either gain or lose points based on the interview and swimsuit competitions.

If academic achievement is the name of the game, it is a surprising mix of states.  Looking at eighth grade NAEP reading performance (one of the best measures of actual student academic success), of the 16 finalists, only Massachusetts is in the Top 10 for eighth grade NAEP reading scores.  And only four of the states — Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Colorado — rank in the top 20.  Five of the finalists (Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana, and DC) are in the bottom quartile. 

While Eduflack has read his share of RttT applications, I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on the nuance and the details (though I will continue to pretend to be to amaze people at forums and cocktail parties).  The finalists appear to be a strong mix of states with a good track record, states with a strong plan for the future, states that have made major legislative changes to qualify for RttT, and some states that really need the dollars.  But don’t take my word for it.  Check out what others are saying.

The US Department of Education’s formal announcement and supporting materials can be found here.  Politics K-12 has great analysis here, while Eduwonk weighs in here, Andy Smarick here, with Tom Vander Ark here.  Who else wants on the carousel of RttT fun?
     

118 thoughts on “Taking the Pole Position on Race”

  1. First, go Tennessee! I think it’s a good point about right-to-work states. There’s been a bunch of complaining about unions down here, but all things considered, we have it fairly easy in terms of union opposition to reform. Also, I don’t find it particularly surprising that so many of the finalist states come from the South or have terrible NAEP scores (the two are, in many respects, synonymous). Wouldn’t we want the lowest achieving states in the Union to get the cash to shape up? Wouldn’t those states have the most incentive to put together really good plans?After spending all day on the blogs, I’m kind of RTTT-ed out. You?

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  2. I am a little RttT fatigued, no doubt.  But we will hit our lull after all of these presentations the week of March 15.  Then we get a month off before the first three or four winners are announced.And I will say again, Tennessee was one of the most impressive proposals I read.As for NAEP, I do think it is particularly important.  We keep forgetting that the rubric for awards is that 52 percent of the score comes from past performance and past record of acheivement.  It just seems a little odd that the majority of finalists are states that do not have a specific record of boosting student acheivement (again, based on NAEP, individual AYP shows vastly different things).  When common core standards are in place, we’ll all be working against the same yardstick.  And NAEP is currently the closest thing we have.

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  3. On a micro level, I think you’re right about NAEP scores and RTTT success. If we’re looking solely at the RTTT scoring rubric, then it doesn’t make much sense to reward states with very little demonstrated student achievement success (although, I wonder if some of the states would be in somewhat better stead if we looked at levels of year-over-year NAEP improvement, percentage-wise, instead of absolute NAEP scores).However, on a macro level, I’m still not surprised that low scoring states are heavy among the finalists. It doesn’t make the most sense in the world (at least if your goal is to bump up student achievement directly, not just fund “experiments” that might lead to best practices that can later be implemented to bump up student achievement) to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into states that are already doing well.Thanks for the great coverage.

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  4. I know even less about the details explained at cocktail parties. Successful reforms require a measure of civility, though. If I believed that data-driven reform could be leveraged to help kids, I’d demand that Tennessee’s proposal be rejected based on its misspelling of the Democratic Party and its undo belligerence. I’d declare that D.C. would not be considered until Michelle Rhee demonstrated a new level of respect for the loyal opposition. I sure don’t know the nuances of grant-writing, but have you ever read a proposal with as much inflammatory rhetoric as Tennessee’s? What is the point of that? Its a great commentary on right to work political cultures. What place is there for that aggression in the field of education?

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  5. “The South is particularly well represented, which some could see as a sign of the region’s willingness to embrace education reforms and others may see as the value of right to work states and weaker teachers’ unions/organizations.”Another interpretation would be is that southern states keep looking for cheap way to improve student achievement instead of, oh i don’t know, maybe INVESTING in an equitable finance system.http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/I have to say, I am getting rather sick of the DC elite patting each other on the back (and giving each other consulting contracts) o9ver the RttT.

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  6. Good points, John.  And I still have one big question with regard to the RttT applications: Were reviewers only allowed to review/factor in that information that was written on the state’s application?  Or could they include their own background knowledge, news coverage, and other sources when determining how a state has done and could do?WIth regard to DC, one important thing to remember.  The award would not be to Michelle Rhee and DCPS. The application was prepared by DC’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education.  DC State Superintendent Kerri Briggs and the DC State Board of Education led the RttT effort.  They would be the fiscal agents for the grant.  OSSE technically oversees both Rhee/DCPS and the District’s growing charter schools system.With regard to inflammatory rhetoric, as a general rule I think it is difficult to write any proposal advocating significant reform and change without alienating some stakeholders in your sphere.  Reform means bucking the status quo.  Bucking the status quo means that something in the current system isn’t working.  So if you are advocating change, something must be singled out for that change, and someone must be tagged with needing change.  While the nuance of the reform and word choice is important, one simply can’t please all of the people with a reform agenda, doesn’t matter if it is in education, healthcare, or choosing a new M&M color.

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  7. Good point on D.C.But since the Central Falls overreach, don’t you think reformers are taking a closer look at the legal issues? (in fact, is it possible that they are now only taking their first comprhensive look at the law?) Duncan doesn’t want RttT efforts to be stillborn due the litigation, and the angry editorializating is relevant in two ways. Firstly, that hotheadedness is more likely to create a political climate that invites risks resulting in litigation. Secondly, when Tennessee seeks to fire someone using policies funded by RttT, that proposal could be entered in court in evidence. Arguing good faith, or the validity of multiple measures would be much harder after making such an overwrought pitch.

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  8. I don’t see legal issues being a problem with RttT.  Remember, as part of a state’s application, they needed letters of support from the teachers’ unions.  Those states without the support (in those states with strong unions) simply aren’t going to make the cut.

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