Hawaii left behind: Aloha State not among Race to the Top finalists
HONOLULU—The U.S. Department of Education announced on Thursday, March 4 that 15 states and the District of Columbia will advance as finalists for phase 1 of the Race to the Top competition, a $4.35 billion nation-wide effort to dramatically re-shape America’s educational system.
The State of Hawaii, in the midst of having the shortest school year in the nation due to furloughs, was not among the finalists selected for phase 1.
The Race to the Top is designed to provide incentives to states to find ways to begin making the changes that business, political, community, and education leaders feel are needed to boost student achievement.
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.
In January, the Hawaii Board of Education announced its plans for Race to the Top funds. The state proposed to establish Zones of School Innovation for the lowest performing five percent of schools, and provide incentives for experienced educators with a track record of being highly effective. In addition, the school day and year would be lengthened for schools in the zones.
In response to the announcement of the phase 1 finalists, Gov. Linda Lingle said the following in a statement:
“Although Hawaii was not selected during this initial round of competitive grants, we have the opportunity to strengthen Hawaii’s application for Round II awards. Round II applications will be due in June. Hawaii could be awarded up to $75 million in federal funds.
“During the next two months Hawaii will need to demonstrate we are serious about meeting the criteria set forth in the Race to the Top application. These criteria include implementing a performance-based evaluation and compensation system for teachers and principals; eliminating statutory, financial, and policy barriers to the growth of quality charter schools; and making a firm commitment to increasing student achievement, particularly in math and English.
“Hawaii should also demonstrate that we can implement a new education governance structure that holds a single person—the Governor—accountable for the success or failure of our school system.”
Hawaii’s phase 1 application can be viewed here.
State applications for funding is scored on selection criteria worth a total of 500 points. State score sheets and comments are currently not available but will be posted here.
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,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. “Everyone that applied for Race to the Top is charting a path for education reform in America ... 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 U.S. Department of Education 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 U.S. Department will post the scores and applications on its website.
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 U.S Department 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 U.S. 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, 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 $350 million to consortia of states that compete in a separate competition to create new college and career-ready assessments.