Ohio's Race to the Top
NEW: Ohio wins $400 million in Race to the Top
Ohio leaders say that the state's winning of $400 million in the second round of the Race to the Top positions Ohio to continue and expand innovative education improvement. Ohio is one of 10 states and the District of Columbia to be awarded funding in the second round of the federal program.
Press release: Ohio Education Matters commends the state and says its proposal was strengthened with attention to data and implementation.
Press release: The Ohio Department of Education says the decision recognizes "the bold initiatives and high expectations" of Ohio's proposal.
Scores of winning proposals: The Education Week blog Politics K-12 lists ratings of the 10 successful proposals.
Announcement: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says all the winning states' proposals "showed a tremendous amount of leadership and a bold commitment to education reform."
Ohio is named a finalist in round two of the Race to the Top. Read more »
Ohio found itself in an enviable position after the first round of the Race to the Top program ended in March. While it was not one of two states to receive federal dollars in education innovation grants, it ranked 10th among the 41 states that submitted applications. More significantly, comments from federal reviewers of the state’s application revealed that Ohio received high marks for its core initiatives and the vision driving them.
With state officials working to revise Ohio's application in the hopes of winning funding in the second round of Race to the Top, we reviewed the breakdown of scoring, proposals from several states, reviewers’ comments and media reports to assess and enhance the state's chances for success.
Improving Ohio's Chances in the Race to the Top
Our analysis of Ohio's application found that while the state lost points for lack of detail and clarity, and some aspects of its proposal scored higher than others, both the comments and the scoring breakdown indicated the state had most of the key elements for education innovation and reform in place.
We found that with thoughtful attention to areas such as gaps in the data provided and implementation plans Ohio's chances are good to win federal dollars to support the ambitious education reform agenda already underway in the state.
Policy Report Moving from Vision to Reality: Ohio's Second Round of the Race to the Top »
County-by-county summary of potential funds available to schools and districts that agree to participate »
Independent guide to Ohio's $400 million Race to the Top Application from KidsOhio and Ohio Grantmakers Forum »
Round One
After being chosen as one of 16 finalists for federal Race to the Top grants earlier this year, Ohio learned March 29 that it did not receive funding in the first round of the $4 billion education reform program. The U.S. Department of Education announced that just two states, Tennessee and Delaware, would be funded in the first phase of the program.
Ohio leaders immediately began preparing for a second chance at funds. Applications for Round 2 of the competition, with $3.4 billion still to be granted, are due June 1, and the winners will be announced in September. The state had sought $409 million for efforts aimed at such things as increasing the high-school graduation rate to 88 percent, up 2 percentage points; reducing by half the graduation-rate gaps between minority and majority students; reducing by half performance gaps on state and national assessments; and reducing by half the gap between Ohio and the best-performing states in the nation on national reading and math tests.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's statement on Race to the Top Phase 1 Winners »
Reaction and analysis
• Statement from Andy Benson, executive director of Ohio Education Matters:
A tremendous amount of time and energy went into the Ohio application for the Race to the Top, and while it was not funded in the first round, we commend the Ohio Department of Education for placing Ohio among the 16 finalists. That work should be a good foundation on which to build an updated application for the second round. Timetables are again tight, but Ohio can take the time to learn from Tennessee and Delaware and the feedback it receives from reviewers. Ohio can create a dialogue with the education community and other stakeholders to determine next steps and what should be included in a Round 2 application. Ultimately, Ohio has to pursue education reform strategies that it believes are the right ones for Ohio students, and our hope is that direction will be worthy of a grant award in the Race to the Top competition.
• Politics K-12 Blog from Education Week
Why Delaware and Tennessee Won Race to the Top by Michele McNeil
In two words: stakeholder support. Both states had strong plans and significant buy-in from local school districts and teachers' unions... Read more
• Letter to Ohio District Superintendents from Deborah S. Delisle, Superintendent of Public Instruction
As many of you have likely heard, today we learned that Ohio was not selected to receive funding during Phase I of the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) Race to the Top (RttT) grant.
The USDOE has announced that Delaware and Tennessee were selected to receive funding under Phase I of the RttT program. We knew from the start that the RttT process would be highly competitive and, while we are disappointed that Ohio was not selected for funding at this time, it was an honor to be selected as one of 16 finalists for Phase I.
Even though we will not receive funding under Phase I, we believe Ohio's students deserve the innovative education reforms identified for in RttT, and we will now begin work on applying for Phase II.
In an effort to provide you with relevant and timely information as we begin our Phase II efforts, ODE has constructed a webpage, rttt.education.ohio.gov<http://www.rttt.education.ohio.gov>, which will contain RttT resources and information.
We will also be sharing information in the near future concerning the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) process for Phase II. Currently, the details of the Phase II MOU are being developed but, as more information becomes available, we will be certain to notify all eligible school districts and community schools about the process.
I know I have said it several times, but I feel I cannot say "thank you" enough. I would like to thank each and every person who helped craft Ohio's application. Even though we were not successful at this juncture, we were selected as a finalist, and that speaks volumes to the dedication and hard work of everyone involved. I know that we will be calling on many of you as we craft the Phase II application.
Please know I appreciate all you do to support our students and their families. Enjoy your spring break and I sincerely hope you create many new memories with family and friends.
Sincerely,
Superintendent Deborah Delisle