Race to the Top snapshots

In anticipation of the first-round Race to the Top finalists being announced this week, here's an assortment of data points which may be of interest (without being too much like the blind men patting down random regions of the elephant, I hope), as rough indicators of how much RttT help is needed (achievement gap), how well the RttT applications are targeted (students in poverty), how much "buy-in" was received (MOU signoffs), and who may have (or not) an inside track via a Gates Foundation boost.



Italicized states did not submit a Race to the Top application in Phase 1.

Scale scores: 2007 NAEP Reading Grade 4:
(better) = significantly better than national gap

(worse) = significantly worse than national gap

Source: U.S. Department of Education Report NCES 2009-455, "Achievement Gaps: How Black and White Students in Public Schools Perform in Mathematics and Reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress / Statistical Analysis Report," July 2009.

MOU participation percentages: from states' Race to the Top applications, as posted by U.S. Department of Education.

Gates Foundation Technical Assistance (from Foundation announcement and EdWeek Politics K-12 blog):
Pre-selected 1st 15: among the 15 states pre-selected for technical assistance

Selected in 2nd round: selected for technical assistance after applications opened to remaining states

Not selected: unsuccessful application for technical assistance

Did not apply: did not apply for technical assistance

Updated 3/4/2010: the 16 first-round finalists as announced by the US Department of Education are highlighted in yellow above.


Further updated 3/29/2010: the first-round winners (Delaware and Tennessee) are highlighted in blue above; final scores and rankings also added.

Further updated 7/28/2010: Phase 2 finalists are highlighted in green above (light green for first-time finalists, dark green for states that were also finalists in Phase 1). Column noting status of states' adoption of common standards also added.