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States are pushing ahead with efforts to make sweeping changes to education policy through the Race to the Top program, despite some of them having seen individual schools and districts back out of the process because of concerns over the time and money required to make those plans a reality.
While some of the winning states in the $4 billion competition were able to keep all their local participants on board, others, such as Ohio and Massachusetts, have seen schools and districts peel off and give up their right to a slice of federal cash.
All of the winners in the second round of the federal competition鈥攏ine states and the District of Columbia鈥攚ere required to turn in detailed blueprints explaining how they will carry out their plans to the U.S. Department of Education by Nov. 22. (鈥淎mbitious Race to Top Plans Put School Districts on Spot,鈥 Oct. 13, 2010.) Those plans include 鈥渟cope of work鈥 documents from local participants.
Most states said their local commitments had largely held firm. But some saw schools and districts back away, as local officials questioned whether they could carry out state plans, or objected to core elements of those plans.
Winning Race to the Top states had mixed success in keeping local schools and districts on board as they submitted detailed plans to the federal government.
OHIO
$400 million grant
Fifty of the state鈥檚 538 original participating schools and districts jumped ship. Many local plans were approved conditionally, meaning they will have to make improvements to receive their share of federal money in years two to four of the program.
MASSACHUSETTS
$250 million
Of 276 original participants, 257 are still on board. The federal share of money that those schools and districts that opted out would have received varied greatly, from $168,000 for one participant to nothing in others.
NORTH CAROLINA
$400 million
All of the state鈥檚 115 school districts remain on board. In addition, 33 of 51 charter schools that were eligible for Race to the Top money submitted 鈥渟cope of work鈥 plans, state officials say.
MARYLAND
$250 million
All 22 of the state鈥檚 original participating districts submitted necessary documents to the state. The state鈥檚 plan calls for creating a new system for evaluating teachers and administrators, and more-targeted assistance to struggling rural and urban schools.
SOURCE: Education Week
The school districts opting out included the Jones County School System, in Georgia, where teachers and administrators harbored lingering questions about the fairness of the merit pay plan included in their state鈥檚 winning, $400 million application. The district will forego its $1.3 million share of federal cash.
鈥淚 support the process and schools taking part in it,鈥 said William C. Mathews, superintendent of the 5,800-student system. 鈥淚t works for a lot districts. It just didn鈥檛 work for us.鈥
When it comes to changing how the district evaluates and pays teachers, he said, 鈥渋t wasn鈥檛 enough money to tempt my principles.鈥
The Obama administration has envisioned Race to the Top, a $4 billion competitive grant program, as driving innovation in schools across the country by supporting new approaches to turning around struggling schools, paying and evaluating teachers and administrators, and crafting better and more uniform academic standards and tests across states, among other policies. In total, 12 winners were named in the two rounds of the competition, out of 46 states that submitted bids. (鈥淩ace to Top Now Faces Acid Test,鈥 Sept. 1, 2010.) The two round-one winners, Delaware and Tennessee, submitted their detailed plans to Education Department earlier this year. ("$3.4 Billion Remains in Race to Top Fund,鈥 April 7, 2010.)
Individual state awards range from $75 million to $700 million. At least half of the money in each state goes directly to local participants, who are charged with executing their state鈥檚 grand designs on the ground. A spokeswoman for U.S. Department of Education, Sandra Abrevaya, said last week that the agency was still reviewing state documents, and it was too early to comment on their 鈥渜uality and content.鈥
Pushback in Ohio
In Ohio, 50 of the initial 538 districts and schools that were part of the state鈥檚 Race to the Top application have dropped out, foregoing their local share of the state鈥檚 $400 million award.
In some cases, the local entities cited concerns about the time and work involved, said Michael Sawyers, the state鈥檚 assistant superintendent of education. In other cases, they couldn鈥檛 muster the necessary agreement between the school board, union, and top school administrators over how to count student academic growth in teacher evaluation, as is required in Ohio鈥檚 plan. Local collective bargaining agreements, Mr. Sawyers noted, complicated the work in some communities.
Some Ohio schools opted out simply because they were about to close their doors permanently, Mr. Sawyers added, and so taking part in Race to the Top for a few months made no sense to them. Many of Ohio鈥檚 local participants were approved conditionally, meaning they鈥檒l need to make modifications in order to continue taking part in years two through four of the program, said Julie Daubenmire, a spokeswoman for the state department of education.
Despite the drop-outs, Mr. Sawyers described state officials as 鈥渆cstatic鈥 about the degree of local buy-in, given the challenges involved.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very proud,鈥 he said. 鈥淭his has been a lot of work in a short amount of time.鈥
One district that opted out of the state鈥檚 plan was the 7,700-student Brunswick City school system, south of Cleveland. District officials found a lot to like about Ohio鈥檚 Race to the Top proposal, but they were also concerned about teachers losing class time as they sought to plan and implement the state鈥檚 blueprint, said Joelle Magyar, assistant superintendent for the school system.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 something we thought we鈥檇 be able to do in the time provided for us,鈥 she said.
While the district would have received $309,000 over four years, it also might have had to hire another lead-teacher or administrator to help execute it, Ms. Magyar noted.
Additionally, the Brunswick City system already uses teacher evaluation and mentoring approaches that bear similarities to the Race to the Top model that Ohio proposed, so district officials did not believe they would lose out in those areas by opting out, she noted.
Ohio鈥檚 Democratic governor, Ted Strickland, has voiced concerns that the man who defeated him in the Nov. 2 election, Republican John Kasich, would jeopardize the state鈥檚 Race to the Top funding if he did away with his predecessor鈥檚 school funding formula. Mr. Strickland says the funding model was crucial to the state鈥檚 winning bid. But Mr. Sawyers believes that issue will not imperil the state鈥檚 cash award, because the state鈥檚 Race to the Top reforms 鈥渟tand alone,鈥 and the core of the plan is intact.
A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education, Justin Hamilton, said recently that states that make 鈥渟ignificant alterations鈥 to their Race to the Top plans could risk losing their pots of federal cash. But he declined to speculate on how far states could go in changing those blueprints before crossing the line.
Holding Steady
In Georgia, 26 school districts remain on board, the same number that were originally included in the state鈥檚 winning, $400 million proposal. While the state lost the Jones County school system, it has picked up a commitment from another district, pending federal approval, said Matt Cardoza, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education.
Mr. Mathews, the Jones County schools chief, said he had concerns about elements of Georgia鈥檚 Race to the Top plan that tie teacher pay to performance, based partly on test scores. He sees little evidence that merit pay produces gains in student achievement, a common criticism of those compensation models. District leaders had hoped that the plan would allow more flexibility in evaluating teachers鈥攁nd perhaps rewarding all school employees, not just teachers鈥攂ut when they realized it didn鈥檛, district officials decided to back away.
鈥淭he research I鈥檓 familiar with says that鈥檚 not really a sound approach for motivating teachers, or improving student performance,鈥 Mr. Mathews said of linking teacher pay to test scores. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so difficult, in our business, to say why a child achieved.鈥
In Florida, which won a $700 million Race to the Top award, 65 of the state鈥檚 67 traditional school districts had initially agreed to take part in the state鈥檚 plan, and 62 have committed to continue, said Tom Butler, a spokesman for the state鈥檚 department of education, in an e-mail. The state鈥檚 winning application, among other features, includes a new model of evaluating and paying teachers, and gives local school systems some leeway in crafting those schemes.
Three districts鈥攊n Dixie, Hamilton, and Suwannee counties鈥攈ave opted out. As is the case in Ohio, a number of Florida school systems received conditional approval from the state, Mr. Butler explained, meaning they will be asked to fix aspects of them.
In Massachusetts, 276 school districts originally had signed on to the state鈥檚 winning, $250 million proposal, but 19 have dropped out, leaving 257.
On the one hand, among the school systems that asked out of the state鈥檚 plan, concerns about the costs of implementing it were the 鈥渄ominant calculus,鈥 said Mitchell D. Chester, the state鈥檚 commissioner of education. Many of those participants, he noted, were slated to receive small amounts of federal money鈥攊n some cases $20,000 or $80,000鈥攁nd some would have received nothing.
Yet Mr. Chester also said that some of Massachusetts鈥 remaining participants are scheduled to receive no direct federal cash through the program, but decided to take part anyway, because they鈥檙e convinced 鈥渋t鈥檚 the right work to do.鈥 Those districts could benefit indirectly from the Race to the Top money that flows directly to the state, he added.
The Massachusetts official predicted that some aspects of the state鈥檚 plans, such as encouraging districts to follow more demanding standards for preparation for college and the workforce, will be easier to implement than others, such as the newly proposed system for evaluating teachers. A task force created by the state鈥檚 board of education is examining how the evaluation system might be tied to compensation.
鈥淭hat represents a major cultural shift for most districts,鈥 Mr. Chester said of the evaluation system.
