Badgers may rue their loss in the first round of RT3, but they should be glad they dodged a bullet this time.

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http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/86731592.html

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Clues on how states made Race cut
Study of winners allows Wisconsin to strengthen 2nd bid

By Erin Richards of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: March 6, 2010

Wisconsin's failure to make the cut in the first round of competition for a federal pool of $4.35 billion in school reform grants has afforded it one consolation prize: the ability to examine characteristics of states that did advance, to strengthen its application for a second round in June. ...

The federal government plans to award less than $2 billion in education grants to a handful of the 16 first-round finalists. The leftover money will be awarded in a second round of competition, with an application deadline of June 1. Gov. Jim Doyle has said Wisconsin will apply again.

Track record counts

While much of the post-mortem last week in Wisconsin centered on whether the state lost because of the lack of mayoral control for Milwaukee Public Schools and the inability of the state superintendent to intervene in low-performing schools, ... the state lost points because it didn't have nearly as strong a record of education reform as such finalist states as Florida and Louisiana.

Almost half the points awarded on the Race to the Top scorecard - which peer reviewers used to rank applications out of 500 points - leaned heavily toward what Smarick called "previous good behavior."

Because the federal government is focused on teacher effectiveness, it stressed that the states must be able to link student performance data to teacher performance reviews. To be eligible for the competition, Wisconsin passed a state law as part of an education reform package in 2009 to allow for student performance data to be used in teacher evaluations.

... Wisconsin's new law doesn't allow for teachers to be demoted or fired if their students perform poorly, it just allowed for the information to be used in their evaluation.

"A state that just allowed student test data to be used in evaluations would get fewer points than a state that intended those evaluations to have an impact on what happens to the teacher," ....

Wisconsin requested $254 million as part of its failed bid for the first round of Race to the Top, the majority of which would be awarded to individual districts. About $68 million would have been left over to direct to requested statewide initiatives, some of which included:

Turning around at least the five lowest-performing schools in the state.

Expanding an early intervention system that helps kids who are struggling to learn.

Coordinating STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) centers, academies and institutes.

Adopting rigorous assessments.

Expanding the state’s K-12 student tracking system into the college years.

Assessing new teachers before they enter the classroom.

Creating a Milwaukee Children’s Zone (similar to the Harlem Children’s Zone).