As we continue to read through the pages (and pages) of reviewer comments on Washington’s Race to the Top (R2T), phase 2 application, here’s a look at each state’s scores as percent of points possible, and rank. Ranks in the top 10 in each category and overall are shaded gray, and there’s a trend among R2T [...]
First look: Washington's R2T application and grades
August 25, 2010 By
Yesterday the U.S. Department of Education annouced the 10 winners of the second round of Race to the Top (R2T), along with all applicants’ scores. Today the scores breakdown and reviewers comments were released (Washington’s are here and here). We will continue to pour over the pages of information, but here’s some initial takeaways: There is a [...]
Bellevue SD wins i3 grant
August 5, 2010 By
The U.S. Department of Education has announced the 49 winning applications for the Investing in Innovation (i3) program. The only winner from Washington State was the Bellevue School District, who submitted an application titled “Re-imagining Career and College Readiness: STEM, Rigor, and Equity in a Comprehensive High School.” The application sought $4.1 million dollars over five [...]
WA earns federal $ for school improvement
April 2, 2010 By
Lost in the flurry over Race to the Top on Monday was the announcement of additional School Improvement Grant (SIG) awards. And hey, what do you know, Washington actually got something — $17 million to help turn around our lowest-performing schools (see our application here). Not quite as large as Race to the Top ($3.5 billion compared to $4 [...]
Will WA be competitive in round 2 of Race to the Top?
April 1, 2010 By
Unless you completely ignore education news, you know Delaware and Tennessee are the winners of the first round of Race to the Top (R2T) grants. The national blogs (see here and here) are aflutter dissecting the winners and losers, trying to figure out what really separates the two. I’m not one to duplicate, however, it is worth [...]
Achievement gap persists on national reading exam
March 24, 2010 By
The 2009 scores for the 4th and 8th grade Reading portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (aka NAEP, the nation’s report card) were released today. Overall, Washington students performed relatively well compared to their peers. Our 4th graders fell within the national average, and our 8th graders scored slightly higher. Even so, the proficiency rates [...]
Schools eligible for federal improvement grants released
March 12, 2010 By
Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn released the names of 47 schools identified as “persistently lowest-performing schools” as identified by federal guidelines. The identified schools will be eligible for additional Title I funds and must choose one of four intervention models to receive the funds. The four intervention models are: Turnaround model. Replace the principal, [...]
Race to the Top, phase 1 finalists announced
March 4, 2010 By
From the U.S. Department of Education’s website, the 16 finalists for phase 1 of Race to the Top were announced this morning. Some may surprise, others may not (Education Week reporters made predictions using a bracket) — Colorado, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Ohio were considered early front-runners. The phase 1 finalists are: •Colorado •Delaware •District of Columbia [...]
Obama: college/career-ready standards linked to federal $
February 22, 2010 By
President Obama today shared with the nation’s governors his plan to include college- and career-ready standards in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka No Child Left Behind). Here are the bulleted policiesObama and his educrew would like to see integrated into ESEA: “Require all states to adopt and certify that they have college- [...]
R2T: 40 states + DC apply
January 20, 2010 By
Bee-tee-dubs, if you hadn’t already heard, the deadline for round 1 Race to the Top applications was yesterday. In the end, 40 states and the District of Columbia applied (Washington State is vying for round 2). Find the list of applicants here, along with press conference footage and other items from the White House. Also [...]
