RTTT finals and beyond

Kentucky is a finalist again in the Race to the Top competition.  I'm delighted, but not surprised.

The next stop is a panel presentation in Washington, where a Kentucky team will amplify what we submitted in writing, illustrating our commitment and fielding questions.  That could raise or lower our scores, and the other finalists will have the same opportunity.

After that, Secretary Duncan could approach the competition two ways.

First, he could fund the highest scoring state, and the next one, and the next one, until the money runs out.   Kentucky was ninth last time, and thus seventh among the states that still need to compete.  If we rank at the same level this time, we could be in very good shape.

Second, he could choose a cut score, and fund only the states above that.  For example, he could fund everyone scoring over 444, and thus at or above the level of the two winners from Round One.  That would be harder on Kentucky, since we had a 418 last time.  We made good changes for Round Two, but possibly not 26 points worth.

Accordingly, we'll all be on pins and needles for a bit longer, hoping that RTTT will give us the resources we need to implement Senate Bill 1 and get the strongest possible start on moving our students up to meeting our new standards.