Race to Top takes a downhill turn

Jul 28, 2010 — The Keene Sentinel

Sarah Palermo

Jul. 28, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- New Hampshire will not receive even a sliver of a $4.3 billion education stimulus pie.

The federal Department of Education announced Tuesday which states are finalists for the second round of funding in the Race to the Top program.

One local education official cried foul over the Granite State's shutout from the funding.

"It's just heartbreaking ... I can't imagine that there are states where every one of their projects are better than our best projects," said Wayne E. Woolridge, co-superintendent for N.H. School Administrative Unit 29.

"I really think we're being penalized for our demographic. We don't have a big department of education. We don't have grant writers, we don't have the money," he said.

Unit 29 provides top-level administration to the Chesterfield, Harrisville, Keene, Marlborough, Marlow, Nelson and Westmoreland school districts.

Marlborough School Principal Reuben Duncan had worked with Woolridge to submit a plan in the state's application.

The program would have put Keene State College students in elementary schools in the second half of their freshman year, and rotate them among different teachers for three years.

It would place more adults in the elementary classrooms, helping personalize education for each student, and get potential teachers in the classroom earlier in their college careers, Duncan said.

"It's exactly what I keep hearing from the federal Department of Education that they want. They really want to strengthen teacher candidates, engage them in the school. We found a way to do that," Woolridge said.

Without the Race to the Top funding, there is little money available to start the training needed to bring college students into the school, he said.

"It's really disappointing," Woolridge said. "The taxpayers in New Hampshire are contributing to our federal budget and should have an even playing field when we go after grants relative to education ... I don't believe that this will serve the nation if states like New Hampshire are written out of opportunities to really show our innovation and creativity."

Race to the Top is a $4.35 billion portion of federal stimulus money that was set aside for programs developed by schools that could improve student learning and are chosen by state education department officials.

Of 36 states that applied, 18 -- and the District of Columbia -- moved on: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

Exactly why New Hampshire didn't make the grade in this round isn't clear. The scores for the second round haven't been posted on the U.S. Department of Education website.

But New Hampshire missed out on the first round as well, and the comments from officials reviewing that application reveal deep disconnects between the federal priorities and the state's education system.

Five reviewers read and graded each state's application on a 500-point scale.

In the first round, New Hampshire received between 210 and 332 points, for an average of 271 points, while the winning states -- Delaware and Tennessee -- received averages of 454 and 444 points, respectively.

The reviewers were dissatisfied with New Hampshire's first-round plan for many reasons, including the low level of participation. Only 21 percent of districts in the state participated in the first proposal, and fewer than half had a signature of support from the local teachers' union president.

"The lack of support from teachers' unions ... indicates that districts may embrace the 'easy' components of reform but not those that require difficult changes," one reviewer wrote.

"The plan is heavily reliant on the good will and professionalism of educators to embrace research-based reforms voluntarily. If this were a sound theory of change, most of the last two decades' proven reform methods would have already been adopted and implemented."

New Hampshire's adherence to a strict local-control model also may have hurt the application. The state asked districts to develop plans of what they would do with Race to the Top funding, and noted in the application "some chose not to participate."

"How can a school (choose) not to participate?" one reviewer wrote.

The state was also docked points because it didn't outline a plan to ensure quality principals and teachers are distributed equitably across the state and in hard-to-staff schools and classrooms, partly because there is no statewide criteria for measuring what a quality principal or teacher is.

Sarah Palermo can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or spalermo@keenesentinel.com

Newstex ID: KRTB-1475-47405173