Race to the Top: Arkansas Eliminated from Phase 1, Phase 2 Remains an Option

Arne Duncan, Secretary of the United States Department of Education, announced on Thursday, March 4, the 16 finalists for Phase 1 of the Race to the Top (RTTT) competition. However, Arkansas is not included in the list of finalists.

Arkansas clearly demonstrated its dedication to Race to the Top – 237 school districts and 15 charter schools, which represent 98 percent of students in the state – signed onto the application, according to Dr. Tom Kimbrell, commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education. AEA’s leaders and staff worked collaboratively with the Department, our local associations, and other stakeholders to ensure that the state's application was consistent with AEA’s mission statement, and to see that it would provide an opportunity for meaningful teacher participation in implementing the plan, if the state had received an RTT award.

Race to the Top (RTTT) is one of the competitive grants funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress in 2009. This program will award a total of $4.35 billion dollars in education funding over the next four years.

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.

As a result of AEA's involvement, Arkansas' final application included the following points, which AEA believes would benefit teachers throughout the state.

1. Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is working to produce a common core of voluntary state standards across grades. Arkansas’ RTTT proposal recognizes the importance of formative assessment tools and focuses more on how schools and teachers use assessment to improve student achievement.

2. Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction

Arkansas has established a data system that provides a tremendous amount of information about student growth and success. The RTTT proposal includes a focus on involving all stakeholders in developing the most effective use of the data in improving learning in the classroom.

3. Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most

Arkansas’ RTTT proposal should include specific efforts to involve the P-12 schools and the teacher preparation institutions in the implementation of efforts to accomplish the goal of providing effective teachers for all Arkansas public school students.

There is ample evidence that National Board Certified teachers make a meaningful difference in raising student achievement. Arkansas’ RTTT proposal includes efforts to provide resources and incentives to recruit teachers in low achieving schools to become Board Certified and to attract other NBCTs to these schools.

The RTTT proposal also focuses on the role that the school as a whole must play in enhancing the quality and effectiveness of teachers and learning, instead of  a system that compensates and/or evaluates teachers based on test scores.

4.Turning around our lowest-achieving schools

 In high performing schools, the staff comes together to discuss, challenge and make critical decisions. Arkansas’ RTTT proposal recommends developing partnerships  between all stakeholders (schools, school districts, teachers and their professional associations, colleges of education and others) in building professional learning communities in our schools. The proposal also supports the development of collaborative learning teams in schools composed of veteran and new teachers trained to share their experience and expertise across the generations.

The RTT 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.

 "The list of finalists is intriguing and we encourage the Department of Education to spend its money wisely by focusing its resources where collaboration with key stakeholders already exists," said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. " We expect collaborative and comprehensive plans to improve schools to be prominent features in each of the state applications. The combination of collective responsibility and collaborative thinking has a track record for yielding results that are positive for students and their schools."

For more information and a video of Secretary Duncan's announcement, visit the Department of Education's  Web site at http://www.ed.gov/blog/2010/03/finalists-for-race-to-the-top-announced/

RTTT 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.