Race to the Top Will Provide Federal Grants to States
The U.S. Department of Education plans to allocate $4.35 billion via Race to the Top funds to provide grants to encourage and reward states for developing and implementing plans in four core education reform areas: improving teacher and principal quality, academic standards, data collection and turning around low-performing schools. There is further emphasis on achieving significant improvement in student outcomes, including making substantial gains in student achievement, closing achievement gaps, improving high school graduation rates, and ensuring that students are prepared for success in college and careers.
The U.S. Department of Education is now reviewing comments made on proposed regulations that will govern how the funds are distributed. Both OFT and AFT submitted comments which were due Aug. 28.
It is expected that there will be tough competition for Race to the Top funds. Ohio will submit a grant proposal through the ODE. We are hopeful that several OFT locals will be included as partners in ODE’s grant proposal which, if proposed rules do not change, will require sign off from both the superintendent and union president in any partner districts. Race to the Top grant proposals are due late this calendar year, but there has been some discussion of an extension of the deadline due to the magnitude of what is expected to be submitted.
The Gates Foundation has selected Ohio as one of the states for which it will provide resources for technical assistance in developing and writing Ohio’s Race to the Top grant.
OFT’s comments on the proposed regulations that will govern how the funds are distributed were focused on 12 areas.
The first was based on the absence of legal barriers (which is required) to linking student achievement data to teacher or principal evaluation. We have commented that in order to be successful, the design and implementation of any such system must be done in total collaboration by the parties. We strongly recommend that any such system require collaboration.
In the area of Standards and Assessments, we have suggested that attention in these two areas alone is not sufficient. We have encouraged a broadening of the criteria to include development of a sound curriculum, professional development and others for a complete whole system.
Another criterion is labeled “Great Teachers and Leaders” and expects that teacher and principal evaluations of effectiveness be based upon performance. We have commented that sound evaluation systems need to be designed to be formative and supportive of development and growth. We have further suggested that evaluation systems that include peer mentoring, peer assistance and evaluation, benefit the mentees by providing them with grade-level and content expertise.
In the area of “increasing the supply of high-quality charter schools,” we have reiterated our support of charter schools if they are held accountable in the same way as other public schools. We have provided historical data on the achievement levels of Ohio’s charter schools. Our other comments consist of developing programs to assist low performing schools around evidence-based models and by a collaborative process.
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