LDE presents RTTT application this week!

The Louisiana Department of Education (LDE) will present their Round Two Race to the Top Application (RTTT) on Tuesday, August 10. This is a big deal.

Louisiana has the potential to win $175 million for a grant cycle lasting through 2014, but is competing for funding with 18 other finalists. Louisiana came in 11^th out 15 states and DC in the first round (LA’s score was 418.2 points out of 500). Our application was scored by a panel of five reviewers who were selected from a pool of 1,500 applicants for the first and second rounds. Most of the reviewers have doctoral degrees and some have served on a state board of education. During the first round, the panel of reviewers deducted points from Louisiana on the following:

• the number of Local Education Agencies (LEA), otherwise known as districts, participating—28 of the 70 districts signed on to participate (only 47% of the state’s students);
• the implementation of a statewide longitudinal data system that is not fully functional or available to researchers;
• the fact that the Recovery School District (RSD) can only intervene in low performing schools not entire districts;
• failing to have a comprehensive plan as to how teachers and administrators would be better equipped to serve students who are English Language Learner (ELL) or special needs students;
• not addressing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education in a meaningful way;
• not providing funds for charter school facilities maintenance and not addressing innovation and autonomy in traditional schools.

To see a rundown on the items we lost the most points on, check out an informative blog post by Alexander Hancock on Loyola’s Quality Education blog. For the reviewers’ comments on Louisiana’s first round application go to the United States Department of Education’s (USDOE) Race to the Top website.

What’s New in this Application?

After reading LDE’s second RTTT application (yes, all 279 pages), I think they are in a better place.  There are still some challenges that they face, but the overall application and explanation of reforms is stronger. LDE addresses many of the issues with the statewide longitudinal data system and explains how teachers, researchers and other interested parties can take advantage of the data system, INSIGHT. Additionally, they include incentives for teachers in rural areas through value added compensation and tuition reimbursements.  They address STEM more thoroughly by relying on regional hubs, community/business involvement and best practices modeled after Ohio. The application explains how the LDE is going to continue to increase the RSD reforms that are currently in place through High Performance School Initiatives which include extended day, professional development, chartering, etc.

What’s Not?

What they don’t do is get more LEAs involved—still only 47% of students in Louisiana will be directly impacted by the plan’s most significant reforms.  However, many of the “non-participating districts” will also be able to take advantage of these reforms (the data system, common standards, value added, etc.) and LDE has put incentives in place to encourage these districts to participate. However, in the end, LDE will need buy-in from the LEAs who didn’t sign on to take part in the reforms—and this could be hard to get. The State’s special education strategy is still lacking in that they don’t specifically deal with how they plan to address special populations in the development and implementation of the common standards and assessments (Louisiana recently adopted the National Governors Association’s Common Core Standards—a set of rigorous, nationally aligned academic standards). Additionally, there is no mention of how they will ensure that teachers who are certified through alternative pathways are adequately trained and prepared to teach special populations and how the value added compensation system (teacher and principal evaluations that take into account student achievement/growth) factors in teachers who have large populations of high-need students. Also, STEM could be stronger. Although there is a great deal of emphasis on Advanced Placement (AP) courses, there is not a specific focus on STEM AP courses. Finally, the application makes no mention of STEM partnerships with major drivers of Louisiana’s economy such as NASA or oil companies.

The Road Ahead

Now, I’m not saying this is easy. The federal government has made this process tedious and complicated—overly so. It’s a massive application. LDE has to include everything they have done with reform, how they are going to keep doing the things that work, start doing new things that have worked in other places and do all of that realistically over 4 years. Then, they have to sustain it. Sound like a walk in the park? I’m not done yet…another part of the puzzle that will impact whether or not Louisiana wins RTTT is the interview portion of the application. Those on the team going to DC are: LDE officials (Rayne Martin,—Executive Director of the Reform Office; Paul Pastorek, Superintendent of Education of Louisiana), a Board of Regents Official (Jeanne Burns, Associate Commissioner of Teacher and Learning Initiatives) and former and present superintendents of local school districts (Jo Ann Matthews, Superintendent of Lafourche Parish; Gayle Sloan, former Superintendent of St. Tammany Parish). They will be presenting the application to reviewers and answering their questions in a one hour interview. The reviewers are expected to focus on the ability to deliver the reforms, implement them on-time and sustain them. They will want to know how the broad policies will affect the teachers and students—the human element. They have an interest in whether or not the reforms are backed by the political will necessary to become reality. And finally, the reviewers want to know how the plan will really change the future of education in the state. In short, it is not the easiest of interviews.

I have confidence in the team and in our state. I know the Louisiana Department of Education wants this, has worked hard, has written/re-written the application, has practiced/re-practiced for this day. So, I hope they hit a home run in DC and show them what we really can accomplish. Then, I hope we win the $175 million. And, THEN I hope we really reform our public schools so that the students who graduate from our high schools can complete four years of college, so that our students with special needs get out of high school with a meaningful degree, so that the expectations that we set for ourselves, superintendents, principals, teachers and students are higher than they ever have been before. It’s time to implement these reforms. It’s time to bring home the bacon. Let’s get it done.