Can Race to the Top Save Struggling Schools?

The Race to the Top program—a $4.35 billion pool of money of which every state in the country can compete for a share—has only been around since it was introduced in late July. A comment period followed that extended into late August and the first phase of applications is expected sometime in December, with a second phase scheduled for next year.

While there's a chance some elements of Race to the Top could change, as Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan and his staff pores through the suggestions and comments to see if any are worth incorporating, there's plenty of information available for experts and education officials around the country to offer their initial opinions about what's good and not so good about Race to the Top.

That's the general consensus shared by most states and education experts. "If it is done right," said Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.4-million strong American Federation of Teachers, "it can promote innovation and promote promising ideas."

Race to the Top focuses on four areas—or "assurances"—that each state is expected to include in its application for grant money. Those assurances include:

• improving the quality of teachers and the distribution of excellent teachers
• having standards in place to improve teaching and learning
• using longitudinal data systems to improve student and teacher performance
• making sure all students have qualified teachers and improving achievement in low-performing schools

That's the main vision behind Race to the Top—together with an emphasis on charter schools—and education consultant Adam Gamoran said the program makes sense.

"He (Duncan) orchestrated a funding system so states are required to demonstrate progress and plans to qualify for these funds," said Gamoran, director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, the largest and oldest university-based research center in the country. "His use of the funds is aligned with the priorities in (Race to the Top). In my view these goals are very good ideas, so there's a good chance Race to the Top funds will lead to improvements."

But Concerns About Charter Schools, Testing Assessments and Rural States Remain

Even supporters of Race to the Top have some concerns about the enormously involved program. Just how involved is it? In its own draft guidelines released in July, the Department of Education estimated an application would take 642 hours to put together. Just how long is that? Well, there's only 720 hours in all of September.

Charter schools

There has been considerable concern about the focus on charter schools as an alternative to boost student performance.

In Iowa, there are only 8 charter schools in the state, and a law that caps the total at 20. Officials like Jeffrey Berger, chief financial officer who also is in charge of governmental relations for the education department, wonder why have charter schools been anointed as the savior for public education?