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RACE TO THE TOP

Maine misses cut for funds

State comes up short in bid for federal education aid

By Matthew Stone mstone@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

Eighteen states and Washington, D.C., will continue their bids this summer for billions in federal money aimed at cultivating education reforms.

Maine won't be among them.

The U.S. Department of Education named 19 finalists Tuesday in the second round of Race to the Top, an education reform competition among the states for a share of $4.35 billion in federal money.

Some $3.4 billion of the fund now remains, after Delaware won $100 million and Tennessee $500 million in the first round of awards. Another $350 million is earmarked for multistate partnerships to reform standardized testing.

While New England neighbors Massachusetts and Rhode Island saw their hopes buoyed by making Tuesday's cut, Maine's application for up to $75 million fell short in Department of Education scoring.

Maine was among 36 applicants in Race to the Top's second round. Those with scores of at least 400 on a 500-point scale were named finalists.

The U.S. Department of Education has posted all the state applications on its website, www.ed.gov, and said it would post individual scores online after the competition wraps up in September.

Maine's Race to the Top application focused largely on scaling up existing educational initiatives rather than introducing a slew of new ones, said David Connerty-Marin, a state education department spokesman.

"We're certainly disappointed that we won't be able to scale those up as quickly as we could have with the influx of those (Race to the Top) funds, but it's not going to stop us from doing our work," he said.

The state's 200-page application proposed what the state Department of Education called a system of "personalized learning" that allows students to pursue high school degrees by mastering course materials at their own pace.

The application said all Maine school districts would be required to develop learning support systems to keep struggling students in all grades on track.

It also included multiple mentions of the state's Learning Technology Initiative and its Jobs for Maine's Graduates program. The application proposed using award money to expand both, though it didn't detail a scope of the expansion.

The technology initiative is the first-in-the-nation program that equips all seventh- and eighth-grade students and a majority of high school students with Apple laptops.

Jobs for Maine's Graduates is a nonprofit with programs in more than 60 public schools that targets students at risk of not finishing high school, offering them tutoring help and equipping them with work-readiness skills.

Race to the Top evaluators awarded points based on states' plans for:

* adopting academic standards that prepare students for college and careers;

* building data systems that keep track of student achievement throughout school, college and into the workplace;

* turning around the lowest-achieving schools; and

* recruiting, evaluating and retaining effective teachers and principals.

The prospect of millions of dollars in federal money spurred a number of states to change education policies in those areas. Some states lifted caps on the number of charter schools they allowed; others began work on evaluation systems that rate teachers' job performance in part on their students' academic progress.

This spring, Maine lawmakers changed two policies:

* They passed a bill allowing the state to sign onto a national set of academic standards known as the Common Core. So far, 27 states have adopted the standards.

* They passed legislation allowing so-called innovative schools in lieu of charter schools. Charter schools aren't allowed in Maine, but are favored by the Obama administration.

* And they struck down a legal barrier -- long favored by Maine's largest teachers' union, the Maine Education Association -- that prevented the use of students' academic performance in teacher evaluations.

At the union's suggestion, the Legislature charged a special task force -- with representatives from the teachers' union and groups representing school boards and administrators -- with pre-approving evaluations that incorporate student academic data.

Federal evaluators also awarded points based on the level of support for Race to the Top proposals by school districts and education unions. In Maine, 82 of more than 200 school districts signed onto parts of the effort. Even fewer local teachers' unions -- 24 -- pledged their support.

Maine Education Association leaders couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.

Steve Bowen, who directs the Center for Education Excellence at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, said he wasn't surprised Maine's application didn't make the final cut.

"The application was so uneven, it wasn't convincing; it wasn't well written," said Bowen, "I think it's disappointing, but it's anything but a surprise."

In multiple spots, the application is ridden with typographical errors and fragmented sentences. The quality of writing largely obscured what wasn't such a bad reform plan that should have generated more support, Bowen said.

"I think the combination of sort of an uneven application that wasn't strong enough, a pretty spotty record in terms of reform, I think that really hurt us," he said. "We're nowhere in the ballpark, but at least you can put something in that's carefully written."

Connerty-Marin said, "Any document can be improved upon, but I think we made our case."

The Obama administration has requested $1.35 billion for a third round of Race to the Top, and a U.S. House panel recently approved $800 million for it.

Connerty-Marin said it's too early to say whether Maine would participate again.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com