The race is on and teachers are front and center

Ohio and the other states competing for Race to the Top dollars have until June 1 to submit second-round applications. The Buckeye State has little time (exactly a month) to chart a new direction and improve its proposal before districts and charter schools must agree to it. We all want Ohio to win, but win because we are a state committed to significant reform and educational improvement. For a shot at Race to the Top success, the drafters of Ohio’s application version 2.0 will need to: 

• Address the state’s round-one areas of weakness directly;
• Pay particular attention to the “Great Teachers and Leaders” section;
• Be aware that other states are moving quickly to improve substantive areas of their applications; and
• Not assume that Ohio will earn all of its round-one points in round two.

Address the state’s round-one areas of weakness directly. 

This will demonstrate to reviewers and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan that the state has taken the constructive criticism from the first round seriously. Ohio is not only competing with the 13 other finalists from round one, but also with dozens of other states that missed the first cut and are hungry to win – and whose relative rank among the pack is unknown.

In yesterday’s Dayton Daily News we shared three issues the state needs to tackle for improving Ohio’s chances in round two:

1. Get more buy-in from the districts and teachers’ unions;
2. Show bipartisan support for the state’s application; and
3. Improve the overall

   » Continued

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   The race is on and teachers are front and center