Race to the Top Finalist Interviews This Week

State education department officials will travel to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to make their case as to why New Jersey should be awarded some $400 million in funding in the Race to the Top (RTTT) competitive grant program.

New Jersey will have 30 minutes to make a presentation on the state’s education reform plans and will take part in an hour-long question and answer period with the grant competition judges.

On July 27, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that New Jersey, along with 17 other states and the District of Columbia, were finalists for more than $3 billion available nationally in the second round of funding for the Race to the Top program. New Jersey was not a finalist in the first round Race to the Top competition earlier this year.

The application submitted by the Christie administration in June includes such proposals as merit compensation for teachers, programs that reward effective teachers who accept assignments in low-performing schools, and a proposal to make it easier for school districts to terminate ineffective teachers.

The New Jersey team will include Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, Deputy Commissioner Andrew Smarick; Assistant Commissioner Willa Spicer; Assistant Commissioner Rochelle Hendricks; and Daniel Gohl, program director for the Newark public schools. The group has been polishing its presentation, timing their responses, and trying to highlight aspects of the proposal which will win New Jersey the most points on the competition scoring rubric.

Race to the Top winners will be announced in September. In the first round of the competition, only Delaware and Tennessee received grant awards. However, Education Secretary Duncan has been quoted in media reports saying he expects 10 to 15 states to be awarded grants in the second round of the grant competition.

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