Continuing the Race to the Top

Last month, American Diploma Project (ADP) Network states Delaware and Tennessee were selected, from among 16 finalists, as the winners of the first phase of Race to the Top (RTTT) grants. Delaware will receive approximately $100 million and Tennessee $500 million to implement bold, comprehensive school reform plans over the next four years.

Both Delaware and Tennessee have been leaders of the college- and career-ready agenda for years - as members of the ADP Network and two of the twenty states with college- and career-ready end of high school standards and graduation requirements. Both states earned praise for their commitment to reform from a cross-section of key stakeholders, including elected officials, teacher's union leaders and the state's business community. Ambitious yet achievable statewide goals around high school graduation and college enrollment and retention anchored both proposals. In both states, all school districts committed to implementing RTTT reforms, which will go a long way toward ensuring comprehensive, statewide change.

It is also clear that leadership mattered. Governor Markell of Delaware and Achieve Board Co-Chair, Governor Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, were both deeply involved in their state's proposal development. The two governors and their cross-sector teams built clear, straightforward plans that leverage the reform momentum already present in their states. As U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, "Both of the winning states built on their unique strengths and track records, rather than trying to manufacture a reform agenda from whole cloth."

Tennessee Commissioner of Education Dr. Timothy Webb credits Achieve and the American Diploma Network for laying the groundwork for Tennessee's success: "This is a landmark opportunity to change education in Tennessee for generations to come. We could not have made this kind of progress without first accomplishing the work of increased standards and curriculum with partners like the American Diploma Project Network. As a state, we already had a head start in making sure our students were college- and career-ready, making us an even more viable candidate for Race to the Top."

Next Steps in the Race...

Applications for Phase 2 are due on June 1, 2010. To help states as they prepare their proposals and to continue the nationwide dialogue on education reform, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) has posted all Phase 1 applications, peer reviewers' comments and scores on its Web site.

USED is also hosting a Technical Assistance Planning Workshop for potential applicants to Phase 2 of the Race to the Top grant competition. At the workshop, leaders from Delaware and Tennessee will discuss their reform agenda, implementation plans, approaches to building statewide collaboration and answer questions. USED staff will also review the Race to the Top selection criteria, requirements, and priorities and answer technical questions about the Race to the Top program. This will be a unique opportunity to engage with the winning states and with USED staff. The workshop will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 21, 2010. For those State representatives who cannot attend in person, there will be a limited number of conference call-in lines. A transcript of the workshop will be posted at www.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop. More...

To help state leaders take advantage of this exceptional competition, Achieve prepared the Race to the Top: Accelerating College and Career Readiness guides. The guides look at RTTT through a college- and career-ready lens, offering specific advice and promising practices to help ADP Network leaders build on the work they have already begun and maximize the new opportunities presented through RTTT. Achieve developed a brief on each major reform area (standards and assessments, teacher and leader effectiveness, P-20 longitudinal data systems, and low-performing schools), as well as two additional briefs focused on building support and engagement from postsecondary stakeholders for states' RTTT plans and planning for success and sustainability. More...