Colorado makes R2T list

Colorado, 17 other states and the District of Columbia Tuesday were named finalists in the second round of the federal Race to the Top competition, according to The Associated Press and numerous other sources.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was to make the formal announcement during an appearance at the National Press Club in Washington.

The list also includes Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina. A total of 36 states applied for round two.

The state’s 193-page application for $175 million pitched the state’s history of education reform measures, including the new educator effectiveness law, and it primarily requests money to implement those reforms.

The bulk of the funds, if Colorado wins a grant, would be used for implementing new content standards and tests at the district level, creation of new educator evaluation systems, encouraging effective principals and teachers to work in low-performing schools and providing turnaround help for the state’s most struggling schools.

The application retained many of the elements of the state’s unsuccessful first-round application and added requests to help implement the educator effectiveness law (Senate Bill 10-191), which was passed late in the legislature session after Colorado lost its first bid.

About $90 million of the $175 million would go directly to participating districts, as the program requires at least half the funds go to local education agencies.

The department has signed memoranda of understanding (formal agreements to participate) with 114 districts and other education agencies, 64 percent of the 180 in the state. Those districts include 89.9 percent of the state’s students, 84 percent of schools and 91 percent of poor students. For the first round application the state had agreements with districts including about 95 percent of the state’s students. The only two notable non-participants in round two are the Pueblo County and St. Vrain districts.

The Colorado Education Association participated in round one but boycotted round two because of SB 10-191. The Colorado unit of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents primarily the Douglas County Schools, signed on to round two.

In broad terms, the state’s application focuses on these goals, as required by the federal government:

• Increase student learning through teacher mastery and delivery of common standards and assessments.
• Use, learn, and leverage high quality information to drive increased student performance.
• Ensure all students have access to effective teachers and principals.
• Turn around persistently lowest-achieving schools.

Build a statewide system of accountability and support to accomplish and sustain those goals.

Colorado’s application promises, over time, to increase:

• College enrollment from 62.9 to 70 percent
• College retention from 66.3 to 75 percent
• 4^th grade National Assessment of Education Progress math proficiency from 45 to 55 percent
• Higher school graduation rate from 74.6 percent to 90 percent
• 4^th grade NAEP reading proficiency from 40 to 60 percent
• 8^th grade math NAEP proficiency from 40 to 60 percent
• 8^th grade reading NAEP proficiency from 32 to 52 percent
• Overall CSAP math proficiency from 54.5 to 85 percent
• Overall CSAP reading proficiency from 68.3 to 85 percent
• Reduce the achievement gap among all subgroups from 30 to 10 percent

Those goals have raised skepticism in some quarters, but state education leaders argue that Colorado has the infrastructure for reform in place but needs to funds to implement those programs.

Here’s a breakdown of how the state proposes to spend the $175 million if Colorado wins that amount:

• $13.6 million – Statewide implementation and administrative costs, primarily at the state Department of Education.
• $13 million – Funding the Content Collaboratives and Regional Support Teams that will roll out new content standards and assessments to school districts, creation of an instructional improvement system on the department’s SchoolView website and extra support for small and rural districts.
• $5.8 million – Subsidies and incentives for district to create and share curricula, for purchase of formative and interim tests and state review of available interim tests.
• $15.2 million – Build out and support of an expanded SchoolView system, including teacher, principal and administrator portals; expansion of Colorado Growth Model data, and incentives for effective educators to provide instructional materials.
• $8 million – Money for state personnel and outside consultants to help districts develop and implement new educator evaluations systems and to identify measures of educator effectiveness, especially in currently untested grades and subjects.
• $5.1 million – Funding for the State Council for Educator Effectiveness and for districts to implement evaluation systems.
• $4.1 million – Development of effective teachers and principals with a focus on low-performing schools, including residency programs, increased national board certification and hiring of Teach for America members.
• $4.3 million – Expansion of the department’s School Leadership Academy, which will include a Turnaround Leaders Academy.
• $3.2 million – Expansion of the number of students who take Advanced Placement and of the number of under-represented students who take college-prep classes.
• $884,000 – Funding for the department’s existing dropout prevention and student re-engagement program.
• $11 million – Creation of a school Turnaround and Intervention Unit within CDE to help districts conduct successful turnarounds of low-performing schools.
• $90.3 million – The funds that will go directly to participating schools districts and other local education agencies.

Representatives of the semi-finalist states will make in-person presentations the week of Aug. 9. States will have different reviewers than they did in round one.

Winners will be announced in early September. About $3.4 billion is available, and there are different tiers of possible award amounts based on state populations. Colorado is listed in the set of states that could receive between $60 and $175 million.

• Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania are in the $200-$400 million range.
• Arizona, Maryland and Massachusetts are in the $150-$250 million range.
• In addition to Colorado, Kentucky, Louisiana and South Carolina are in the $60-$175 million range.
• The District of Columbia, Hawaii and Rhode Island are in the $20-$75 million range.

The House recently passed a budget bill that proposes to trim $500 million from R2T, but the Senate has rejected that amendment.

Colorado asked for $377 million in the first round, but the only winners were Tennessee and Delaware. An award can be spent over four budget years.

Do your homework

• Related Education News Colorado stories
• Full Colorado application (PDF)
• Appendices, including list of participating districts and budget details (large PDF)
• U.S. Department of Education R2T information

Print