Race to the Top Implementation Won’t Be Comfortable

Tennessee education officials are eager to apply for a massive federal grant
program called Race to the Top. But if the state wins the funds, Education Commissioner Timothy Webb warns it will require bold measures that some may find uncomfortable.

The stimulus-funded Race to the Top program will split $5 billion among a handful of states. In return for the funds, those states will essentially become laboratories for new, potentially radical, methods.

Commissioner Webb is frank about the challenges winning states will face. The usual ways of approaching failing schools, attracting and keeping teachers, and implementing curriculum standards will be replaced with new, unproven techniques. He says some people are sure to balk.

“It’s gonna be very difficult for people to understand how we’re eliminating things that we’ve done in the past for years and years and years, that may or may not have had a good return on the investment, and now we’re going to be doing bold and innovative things that have never been heard of. That’s going to be a difficult conversation to have, but it’s a necessary conversation to have because-the sense of urgency is we don’t have time to let things work. We have to find the things that work and do them now.”

Webb sees the program as an opportunity for substantial improvements in Tennessee’s schools.

It’s not yet clear how many states will be chosen for Race to the Top, or how much money each will get. Applications haven’t been issued yet, but Webb says federal officials have told the state what kind of information to prepare. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is helping Tennessee-and several other states-with what is expected to be a complicated and time-consuming application process.