Teachable Moments: Race to the Top winners, video essays and tenure trends
Monday, April 12, 2010 
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Education Week offers some interesting national news in its April 7 issue.
First is a front-page story on the winners of the first phase of the $4 billion Race to the Top money that the Department of Education is awarding this year. Forty states and the District of Columbia applied, and 16 states were chosen as finalists. California applied but was denied.
Delaware and Tennessee, it was announced, were the top two winners, receiving $100 million and $500 million, respectively. The award money is based on student population. Coming in third, fourth, fifth and sixth were Georgia, Florida, Illinois and South Carolina. About $3.4 billion is still available in the second phase of the competition.
The applications were judged on a 500-point scale by a panel of five reviewers. Delaware received 454.6 points, and Tennessee received 444.2 points. California’s score was 336.8, not in the top 16.
In their applications, states were asked to address how to improve “teacher effectiveness, data systems, low-performing schools, and academic standards and assessments,” according to Education Week.
A 37-page document provides reviewers’ comments on California’s application.
Local buy-in to each state’s application, which detailed plans to implement education reforms, seems to have
Read more: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2010-04-12/blog/teachable-moments/teachable-moments-race-to-the-top-winners-video-essays-and-tenure-trends#ixzz0kysEVhJE