Race to the Top Finalists Announced

Posted by Beth DuBose on Mar 05, 2010

The finalists for the highly sought after $4 billion in Race to the Top grants were announced Thursday, March 4. The list was longer than anticipated with 15 states and the District of Columbia now in the running.

The 16 finalists are: Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Each of these states scored above 400 points out of a 500 point scale on their application. Of the 16 finalists, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan estimates there would only be seven or fewer winners sharing in the $2 billion dollars up for grabs in part one of the competition. The remaining $2 billion will be handed out in September for part two of the competition.

The next step for the finalists is to have an in-person presentation with the individuals that reviewed their application. These presentations will be made the week of March 15 in Washington, D.C. and the winners will be announced in April. At that time the videos of the presentations will be posted and made public, as will the state scores and reviewers’ notes.

Read more about the Race to the Top finalists at Education Week , eSchool News, and the US Department of Education.