16 States Reach Race to the Top Finals

Nearly two months after the application due date for the first round of the Race to the Top, the Education Department announced the 16 winning applicants who will compete for a piece of the $4.35 billion economic stimulus prize.

 Of the 40 states and the District of Columbia that applied in the first round, these 16 will compete in the finals:

• Colorado
• Delaware
• District of Columbia
• Florida
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Massachusetts
• New York
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• Tennessee

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he was impressed with the effort and plans states have made to improve education for their students. These states scored the most points according to the scoring rubric, which included a variety of factors in six areas, and none of those were deciding factors on their own.

Teams of five peer reviewers scored each state's application, and their grades were averaged to create the final point total. About 50 peer reviewers looked over the applications, with some of them serving on multiple panels.

At 400 points, a natural break occured between the 16 applicants and the rest of the field, so that's where the Education Department made the cut. Duncan said it would be fair to say that the winners would be in the single digits.

Even though a small number of the applicants will be chosen, he still gave the 16 states' workers and leaders the chance to share their ideas and answer questions for peer reviewers in a videotaped interview.

"If I was on the other side of the fence, I'd want the opportunity to stand up there and articulate my vision and plan," Duncan said, "so we really wanted to be as inclusive as possible."

The interviews, peer reviewer comments and scores of each finalist will be published online after the winners are announced in April. For the first round, Duncan does not plan to give out more than $2 billion of the $4.35 billion available in the Race to the Top fund, which is authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. And it will probably be less than that.

"This isn't about the money," he said. "It's about collaboration among all stakeholders."

Applications for the second round are due June 1, and the winners for that phase will be announced in September. Any of the states that do not win the first round can apply in the second round.