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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Eduflack: RttT Part Two: This Time, We're Serious

Eduflack: RttT Part Two: This Time, We're Serious

RttT Part Two: This Time, We're Serious

Now that the dust is settling on the recent Race to the Top Phase One announcement (go Tennessee and Delaware!), the remaining states in the union are starting to get serious about their Phase Two apps. In the last day or so, we've now seen that Kansas has decided to opt out of the Phase Two process, while Phase One finalist Colorado is making additional legislative changes to look more appealing to judges.

When the two winners were announced last month, Eduflack (and others) wondered how much help the two winning applications could provide to those seeking Phase Two dollars. With unique demographics, political situations, and hungers for school reform, there are few states that could just do a "search and replace" with apps from either the First State or the Volunteer State and expect to win the day.

While a great deal has been written about the Phase One apps, particularly, the two winners, the folks over at The New Teacher Project (a org that is in both of the winning apps, I believe) has provided a solid analysis of what the applications can really tell us. The full analysis can be found here .

Among the most interesting of TNTP's findings are its seven lessons learned: