Three weeks ago, the second phase of Race to the Top (RTT) winners were announced. Nine states and the District of Columbia were awarded grants as a result of their plans, promises, and prior performances. Despite assertions of independent reviews and maintaining transparency throughout the evaluation process, the Department of Education continues to receive its share of criticisms on account of the end outcomes. With the department’s expressed hope of a RTT Phase 3 in the future, there are several concerns that first need to be addressed.
The first concern stems from the subjective elements of the evaluation process. Transparency is essential but meaningless without straightforward, objective instructions for the evaluators. Throughout several of the grading criteria, evaluators are given strict instructions for categorizing a state’s performance (e.g., “high” or “low”) but then often have extensive scoring flexibility within these categories. As any good teacher would tell you, students demand fair and consistent grading systems. The Department of Education should provide nothing less for the RTT applicants.