Schools Look to ‘Race to the Top’

January 27, 2010

With the state asking for additional financial cutbacks from school corporations, superintendents are looking for any additional dollars they can find.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the Race to the Top competitive grant program in July, emphasizing the need for comprehensive education reform and innovation in schools across the nation. In November, the U.S. DOE announced the final regulations for Race to the Top, which will pr ovide $4.35 billion in federal funding nationwide to schools that drastically improve students’ academic achievement and growth.

Through Race to the Top, the U.S. DOE is asking states to advance reforms around four areas by adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy; by building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction; by recruiting, developing, rewarding and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and by turning around the lowest-achieving schools.

A $500 million reform plan outlined within a 126-page application submitted to the feds by the Indiana Department of Education is called Fast Forward and targets the four reform areas identified by Race to the Top: Standards and Assessments, Great Teachers and Leaders, Data Systems for Success, and Turning Around Lowest-Performing Schools.

Statistics from Indiana students is at the heart of the reforms. The state ranks 44th nationally in the educational attainment of its work force, 18 percent of its high school students fail to graduate on time and about 20,000 third-graders — or one in four — fail to acquire basic reading skills each year.

"Indiana submitted a $500 million application because we know Secretary Duncan is committed to investing in states that will make systemic and long-lasting reforms," Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett said. "I believe there is no better investment than in Indiana. Our plan deserves this type of historic funding."

Bennett said that more than 320 school corporations and public charter schools have tentatively agreed to participate in Race to the Top.

" I’m pleased so many school corporation superintendents, school board presidents and teacher association leaders have chosen to partner with the state in this unprecedented opportunity to increase the speed and scope of reforms that will benefit every Hoosier student," Bennett said. "The participation of 90 percent of school corporations clearly illustrates Indiana is a reform-ready state."

Though school districts submitted applications to apply for Race dollars, there is a provision to opt out of the plan, which would buck Indiana’s current curriculum standards and go with a new nationwide standards and testing.

Race to the Top is drawing mixed reviews from teachers.

Under the state’s proposal, teachers would be categorized into four groups, ranging from highly effective to ineffective. The state would check to ensure a reasonable distribution across those categories would be made so a school district couldn’t lump its teaches in the top categories.

Those in the highest categories could get bonuses from the state, while those in the lower categories would be targeted for dismissal. New teachers still labeled as being ineffective after six years would lose their teaching licenses.

"In Indiana, our teachers’ associations were especially concerned because (Bennett) would not tell us what the Indiana application for the grants contained. He repeatedly asked us to sign off on the application but would not share the application with us," Carol Mooney of the Indiana State Teachers Association said. "I’m sure Dr. Bennett knew if he divulged what was in the application, the ISTA would not sign it. Now that we’ve seen the application, I don’t believe our leadership would have done any differently."

Mooney also sees the funding as being a short-term fix for a long-term p roblem.

"Current, basic school programs have never been funded at the federal and state levels like the special education law and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Schools have had to comply with these programs but have not received the funding to do so," Mooney said. "Instead, we are applying for a few thousand dollars in grants that in no way provides sufficient funding for schools, especially now that Gov. Daniels has twice cut this year’s school funding by hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet, the grants require teachers to agree to be evaluated yearly, based on student test scores.

"While test scores are a valuable tool to include in evaluating student performance, it is far from the only tool," she said. "And to harbor the misconception that teachers are the sole reason for a child’s not progressing well in school is a false and misleading idea."

"We believe we should do all we can to see to it that students learn to read," Sam Gardner, interim superintendent of the Lanesville Community School Corp., said.

"Fact is, we believe we spend time, energy, lots of money and resources already to do this. In fact, it is our major focus in our primary grades … I suggest our state leaders research the issue to see the effectiveness — or lack of — in retaining students and what this means in regard to their future success in school and data about graduation rates of retained students. It is embarrassing that our state leaders do not communicate this information."

Dr. Neyland Clark, superintendent for South Harrison Community School Corp., believes there are more variables that figure into a student’s success in school than just the teacher.

"If a teacher is going to be judged by test scores, a teacher that work s well with a certain type of student could come back and say they don’t want to work with another type of student because they don’t want to be judged unfairly. That’s not fair to the teacher or the student," Clark said.

"What we want to do is have something consistently good for kids, and we want to do it with a collaborative effort with our teachers."

Phase I Race to the Top winners will be announced in April.