RACE TO THE TOP

Race to the Top (R2T) is a competitive grant, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which the U.S. Department of Education will be giving to a number of states. Lt. Gov. O’Brien organized committees during the summer of 2009 to give input on what should be in Colorado’s proposal for this grant; the committees worked in the four “assurance” areas required in the grant application.

 

I worked on two R2T committees: Teacher Effectiveness and Low-Performing Schools. (The other two were Longitudinal Data Systems, and Standards and Assessments.)  The Teacher Effectiveness Committee worked through these subcommittees: 

The Low-Performing Schools committee looked at what efforts have been successful in Colorado and the nation to turn around struggling schools, in order to come up with a plan for what Colorado might want to do. Research has shown that there is no single model for turnaround that is always successful, but there seem to be areas that are common to successful turnarounds: identifying specific goals based on data, having a curriculum that is aligned with standards, training teachers effectively, providing time for staff collaboration, having a principal that is focused on the turnaround plan, providing a safe and appropriate school environment, and working with parents and the community.

 

Colorado’s application for R2T was submitted on January 20, 2010. In order for one provision of it to be official, the Legislature passed SB 10-36, Program Results for Educator Preparation (see my Blog on the first day of the session). In addition, Governor Ritter passed an Executive Order creating the Governor’s Council for Educator Effectiveness.