The US Department of Education recently released progress reports on the 12 Race to the Top winners, outlining their successes and failures in upholding the commitments they made in their grant proposals. So where do the winners now stand?
Delaware: ($120 million) Delaware had to delay rolling out their teacher-evaluation system for one year and has had problems getting districts to come on board with the state’s agenda. However, they have rolled out a program that covers the fee to take the SAT for all 11th graders in the state, have hired 28 data coaches to work with local school districts, created new teacher and principal certification routes, and passed a law that requires institutions of higher education (IHEs) to share student-level data.
DC: ($75 million) The District has seen a high turnover in grant administration, with no one person staying longer than 6 months, and no one who worked on the original proposal is involved with administrating it. Work on turning around failing schools has been delayed due to this. The District has been able to distribute Common Core State Standards (CCSS) materials to schools, expand two teacher-residency programs, and upgrade the public charter schools’ data systems.
Florida: ($700 million) Florida built into its proposal that 98% of the state portion of the grant would be for contracting out work, but has struggled to issue these contracts in a timely manner. Many of the first-year activities planned in the grant have been delayed due to this. On the other hand, Florida did adopt a value-added model and observation criteria for its new evaluation system and expanded STEM programming in the lowest performing schools.
Georgia ($400 million) Georgia has experienced leadership turnovers in six of its largest school districts, which has hampered progress on implementation. Furthermore, state officials did not update and push back the proposed timelines when they submitted their application for the second round of grants, making them the same as in their losing round one application. However, the teacher pipeline and PD in the state has been expanded through new contracts with organizations like TFA. They have awarded five grants to support STEM and opened two non-traditional schools geared towards high-risk youth.
Hawaii ($75 million) Hawaii has faced significant delays in implementation. This was due to failing to come to a compromise with the teachers’ union on the new evaluation system, which also stalled plans to recruit effective teachers for high-needs schools. The state has been slapped with restrictions on its grant money due to “unsatisfactory progress.” However, graduation standards have been raised, and a new STEM program for low-income, at-risk students has been initiated. Also, new teacher certification routes and reformed teacher licensing standards have been enacted through legislation.
Maryland ($250 million) Maryland suffered a six month delay in recommendations for a teacher evaluation system, but Maryland has made much progress, holding teacher academies for the Common Core, launching STEMnet to connect educators with STEM professionals, and expanded partnerships for teacher and leader recruitment.
Massachusetts ($250 million) Massachusetts has experienced trouble finding high-quality employees and vendors to do its data-system work. Otherwise, the state has accomplished quite a bit: it has created and distributed extensive CCSS resources, trained 500 teachers for pre-AP coursework, piloted a new evaluation system in low-performing schools, and created six early-college high schools in STEM subjects.
North Carolina ($400 million) North Carolina has a new teacher-corps program in the works it developed on its own (rather than contracted), which has delayed the program by a year. There are also delays in a new instructional improvement system and program to expand virtual courses in math and science in low-performing schools. On the good side, North Carolina has created standards not included in the CCSS, launched a new two year alternative certification program for principals, and established a network of three schools that will serve as pilot sites for new practices and model sites for instruction.
New York ($700 million) The state is struggling to get all 715 of its districts in line with its new teacher evaluation plans via collective bargaining. But it has created a $40 million “innovation fund” for school turnarounds, a new teacher recruitment program for high-needs schools, and 200 “network teams” to help deliver resources and training to support the state’s education agenda.
Ohio ($400 million) The kindergarten-readiness pilot Ohio wrote into its grant has been delayed due to slow hiring practices; the number of districts participating in the grant program also dropped 11% due the anticipation of receiving small grants from the state to support the work. However, Ohio has tested and launched its new teacher and principal evaluation system, established a district competitive grant program to fund innovation, and created a network of 22 rural districts to share best practices.
Rhode Island ($75 million) Rhode Island has had many challenges in adequately supporting its low-performing schools and in implementing a high-performing charter schools initiative. The state has been able to train teachers on the CCSS, though, and has created a statewide system for teacher and administrator access to student data. It has also established a new teacher-induction program that will provide one on one mentoring to first and second year teachers.
Tennessee ($500 million) Tennessee had a tough time filling leadership positions for administering the grant, which has delayed its timelines and stunted its ability to support local districts. But the new teacher evaluation system is set to roll out this year, teacher mentoring and residency programs have been expanded, and a STEM network to connect business, K-12 and IHEs has been created.
To read a full summary of the reports, please visit http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/01/18/17rtt_ep.h31.html?tkn=NVZFgMjAk3QYjKOwn9xXcqOKm6NonyvNXztA&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2. To read the full reports, please visit http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/performance.html.
