Florida a Race to the Top Finalist

We received word today that Florida has been named a finalist in the federal Race to the Top grant competition. Florida's was among 16 finalists (with Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee) to become a finalist in the first phase of this grant process, which seeks to encourage reforms the Obama administration has made a priority.

The federal Education Department received 41 applications earlier this year for a share of the funding. Officials who represent the finalists will be interviewed before the administration announces winners in April.

Experts convened by the Education Department screened the bids on a novel 500-point system that reflects Obama's priorities.

For example, the scoring rubric awards up to 10 points for making education funding a priority and up to 30 for demonstrating significant progress in raising achievement and closing gaps. Three areas of reform are worth up to 40 points each: developing and adopting common academic standards; turning around the lowest-achieving schools; and ensuring successful conditions for high-performing charter or other autonomous public schools. Proposals to improve teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance are worth as many as 58 points. There were points to be awarded as well for collaboration with unions.  

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has the final call on who wins, but aides say he will lay out in detail his justification if he departs from the expert rankings.

Click on the link below to read FEA, AFT, and NEA's positions on the Race to the Top Finalists.