Round two winners announced . . .

The ten winners of round two of RttT were announced yesterday. That means that nine states and the District of Columbia will be sharing the $3.4 billion dollars to support their identified change initiatives on top of the $600 million awarded to two states in round one. You can read some of Secretary Duncan’s comments in this article at Education Week.

Our state did not participate in round one and did not make the cut in round two. I have shared some of my thoughts in previous posts as to why we were not successful so I won't belabor that point. It will be interesting to see if the Secretary and President are successful in convincing Congress to fund their $1.35 billion request for another round that could prove to be more successful for our state. Even then, however, there were some losers in round two that are much better positioned for success than we are given the Secretary's comments.


Only the top 10 finishers were awarded a share of $3.4 billion left in Round Two of the federal grant competition. Some prognosticators were surprised—and disappointed—that states that have drawn credit for overhauling their education policies, such as Colorado and Louisiana, didn't make the cut.


In a conference call with reporters, Duncan sounded disappointed, too. He called Colorado, which ranked 17th, a "national leader" in adopting innovative ed policy. "I was very, very sorry, quite frankly, we weren't able to fund them," he said.


Of Louisiana, the secretary said he "would have loved to have funded" the state, a near-miss at 13th. And California, which came in 16th? The secretary noted that he was "sad and disappointed" to not be able to give that state funding.

As with any process such as this, there is going to be controversy and those claiming that politics played a role in the rankings. This despite reassurances from Duncan that he did not over ride or change the rankings of any of the reviewers. Some are also questioning why there are no states west of Ohio among the winners? Go to this EDUWONK post for links to some of the discussions currently taking place.

The following statement from Secretary Duncan comes for the Education Week article.

"This may be the end of phase two, but it's not the end of Race to the Top," Duncan said. He noted the jumps in many applicants' scores between rounds, saying their efforts amounted to a "breathtaking amount of reform."

It may be a breathtaking amount of reform partially implemented with additional promises on paper, but only time and data will determine whether this paper reform and the dollars attached to it result in significant increases in student achievement that sustain over time. It would be nice to have the opportunity for this level of funding to support the change initiatives in legislation and on paper in our state. Maybe next time.