 The 10 winners -- nine states and the District of Columbia -- will
split more than $3 billion in grant money to go toward creating new
assessment standards for students and teachers, and other
educational reforms. Delaware and Tennessee were first-round
winners.Illinois State Superintendent Chris Koch said the state
still benefited from its pursuit of Race to the Top dollars.
"Of course it's disappointing for us, but I do have confidence
that we're on the right track here with this agenda. The laws that
we passed were the right laws. It's going to take us down a road
that we need to do and to go," he said.
The Race to the Top competition gave states an incentive to enact
new laws and foster collaborations between teachers' unions and
school districts.
Robin Steans, executive director of the education advocacy group
Advance Illinois, said Race to the Top provided an incentive to
state lawmakers to make some changes.
"The adoption of 'Common Core Standards' is a big step forward --
the fact that we've got a blueprint for stronger principal
preparation plans, the fact that we've got a plan for more
substantive teacher and principal evaluations, the fact that we've
lifted the cap on the number of charter schools that can operate in
the state," she said.
The Common Core State Standards initiative is meant to provide
guidelines for nationwide student benchmarks. So far, Illinois is
one of 35 states that have adopted the guidelines.
Lawmakers passed and Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law a plan to
tighten standards for evaluating applicants for positions as
principals.
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State Rep. Roger Eddy, R-Hutsonville, had concerns on how the
state was going to fund some of the changes lawmakers passed,
including the modifications to evaluating incoming principals.
"A good example is that there is going to be a longer internship
for principals. That's going to cost money, and without looking at
ways to fund it with federal dollars, it's going to be more
difficult to implement," he said.
Illinois could have earned up to $400 million to go toward
implementing reforms if its application had been successful, but
Koch said they'll have to scale back some reforms and push back the
timeline on others.
Reviews and comments from the U.S. Department of Education on
states' applications will be available on Tuesday, with videos of
applicants' presentations available next month.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By KEVIN LEE]
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