California is still in the Race to the Top

On April 30, we announced that California will participate in Round 2 of the federal Race to the Top (RTTT). For this new plan, we have asked six district superintendents to lead a working group to develop a detailed reform plan that we believe will make our application significantly more competitive. These districts (Clovis Unified, Fresno Unified, Long Beach Unified, Los Angeles Unified, San Francisco Unified, and Sanger Unified) have all committed to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Through the plan articulated in our application, California will continue to implement critically needed reforms to improve student achievement and more effectively prepare all students for success in college or careers. We hope to stimulate this long-term effort by building on the efforts of these key districts that have committed to work with the State on developing and implementing strategies needed to make systemic changes at the local and statewide level that lead to more effective teaching and learning with a focus on continuous improvement.

For those of you that signed on to our first round application, we want to thank you again for taking the bold step to join the state’s RTTT application in the first round of this competition. We appreciate that your decision to participate in RTTT was a thoughtful one reached after many conversations with stakeholders. We hope that you will also take the step of committing to all of the reforms in the new MOU. We anticipate an MOU will be ready for review in mid-May. At stake is as much as $700 million in federal dollars which will propel key education reforms. The RTTT Round 2 application is due June 1, 2010. We realize it will take an intensive and creative effort to meet this very tight time frame. However, California is up for the challenge and we will not forsake any opportunity to improve our students’ future. In that spirit and with the assurances of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan that our application would receive due consideration, we will continue our RTTT work.

If you have questions regarding California’s participation in RTTT Round 2, the State’s application, or other matters related to RTTT, please contact us by e-mail at info@caracetothetop.org.

We remain committed to working with you in this effort towards improving student achievement for all.

Sincerely,

Jack O'Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Theodore R. Mitchell, President State Board of Education

Bonnie Reiss, Secretary of Education