Billions of dollars in federal education reform grants are up for grabs in the Race to the Top. Wednesday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that 18 states and the District of Columbia as finalists in the competition’s second round. Cooperation was the secret of success for final contestants such as California. In Nevada, which didn’t make the cut, politicians pointed fingers and called the program large government.
Race to the Top finalists eligible for billions
In March the first round of Race to the Top winners, Delaware and Tennessee, received $ 100 million and $ 500 million respectively. The United States of America Department of Education will award $ 3.4 billion in federal education grants within the second phase. Second round final contestants include are Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. Race to the Top final contestants will send teams to Washington in August for the competition’s interview phase. In September winners could be declared.
Education reform: “a quiet revolution”
In a speech to the National Press Club in Washington, Duncan called the program “part of a quiet revolution” in education reform when he announced the Race to the Top finalists. The biggest achievement of the program, supporters say, is that Race to the Top allows states to start dealing with controversial reforms before allocating scarce funding for them. Since Race to the Top was announced, the Department of Education Reform said 23 states have passed education reform laws around things like charter schools and teacher evaluations to improve their chances of winning.
California cooperates to advance
California became a Race to the Top finalist after finishing out of the money in the first round. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that across the state, 300 local school districts and county offices of education signed on to the Race to the Top application, agreeing to implement the reforms it outlined. California’s application, which highlighted what districts are already doing to turn around struggling schools, evaluate and support teachers and principals, and measure student performance, was written by superintendents from seven school districts.
Nevada politicians blame each other for failure
Nevada paid a consultant $ 40,000 to write its unsuccessful Race to the Top application. Fox News Las Vegas reported that an orgy of finger-pointing ensued upon Nevada’s failure to reach the finals. Democratic Senator Harry Reid accused Republican Governor Jim Gibbons of a “lack of leadership”. Gibbons said Reid never “lifted a finger” to help the state compete. Quite possibly though she wants less federal involvement in schools and has called for eliminating the Department of Education, right wing candidate for Senator Sharon Angle piled on Reid after Nevada was left out in the cold .
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