Race to the Top (R2T, RTTT or RTT) was a $4.35 billion United States Department of Education competitive grant created to spur and reward innovation and reforms in state and local district K–12 education. Funded as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, it was announced by President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on July 24, 2009. States competing for the grants were awarded points for enacting certain educational policies, instituting performance-based evaluations for teachers and principals based on multiple measures of educator effectiveness (tied to targeted professional development and feedback), adopting common standards (though adoption of the Common Core state standards was not required), adopting policies that did not prohibit (or effectively prohibit) the expansion of high-quality charter schools, turning around the lowest-performing schools, and building and using data systems.
Criteria for funding
State applications for funding were scored on selection criteria worth a total of 500 points. In order of weight, the selection criteria were: Great teachers and leaders (138 total points) Improving teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance (58 points) Ensuring equitable distribution of effective teachers and principals (25 points) Providing high-quality pathways for aspiring teachers and principals (21 points) Providing effective support to teachers and principals (20 points) Improving the effectiveness of teacher and principal preparation programs (14 points) State success factors (125 total points) Articulating state's education reform agenda and LEAs' participation in it (65 points) Building strong statewide capacity to implement, scale up, and sustain proposed plans (30 points) Demonstrating significant progress in raising achievement and closing gaps (30 points) Standards and assessments (70 total points) Developing and adopting common standards (40 points) Supporting the transition to enhanced standards and high-quality assessments (20 points) Developing and implementing common, high-quality assessments (10 points) General selection criteria (55 total points) Ensuring successful conditions for high-performing charters and other innovative schools (40 points) Making education funding a priority (10 points) Demonstrating other significant reform conditions (5 points) Turning around the lowest-achieving schools (50 total points) Turning around the lowest-achieving schools (40 points) Intervening in the lowest-achieving schools and LEAs (10 points) Data systems to support instruction (47 total points) Fully implementing a statewide longitudinal data system (24 points) Using data to improve instruction (18 points) Accessing and using State data (5 points)
In addition to the 485 possible points from the selection criteria above, applicants were assessed based on six priorities, including the prioritization of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education which is worth another fifteen points for a possible total of 500. Priority 1, absolute priority: comprehensive approach to education reform Priority 2, competitive preference priority: emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) (This priority was worth 15 points, bringing the "selection criteria" total to 500 points) Priority 3, invitational priority: innovations for improving early learning outcomes Priority 4, invitational priority: expansion and adaptation of statewide longitudinal data systems Priority 5, invitational priority: P-20 coordination, vertical and horizontal alignment Priority 6, invitational priority: school-level conditions for reform, innovation, and learning
The applications for Race to the Top were bolstered by local involvement: states were incentivized to get buy-in from school district superintendents and teacher unions; applications required signatures from the states' education chiefs, governors, and attorneys general in order to qualify.
Effects
Several states changed their education policies to make their applications more competitive. For instance, Illinois increased the cap on the number of charter schools it allows from 60 to 120; Massachusetts passed legislation to "aggressively intervene in [its] lowest-performing schools", and West Virginia proposed, but did not establish, a performance-based salary system that would have included student achievement in its compensation calculations. In order to be eligible, states couldn't have laws prohibiting the use of measures of student achievement growth in teacher evaluations. Some states had banned the use of value-added modeling in evaluations, but changed their laws to be eligible.