North Carolina's big win Tuesday in the federal "Race to the Top" competition will bring up to $400 million to the state and an era of new approaches to public education.
The state's education community cheered the announcement by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan that North Carolina was among 10 winners in the latest round of coveted grants to spur classroom innovation. The others were the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island.
In its proposal seeking the $400 million over four years, North Carolina aimed to raise student test scores, boost high school graduation rates and better prepare students for careers and college work.
The three main components are: money to recruit and retain quality teachers and administrators; a turnaround plan for low-performing schools, and handheld devices that would allow teachers to continuously track students' progress.
Gov. Bev Perdue led a team of education leaders earlier this month that made the state's final pitch for the money. North Carolina placed ninth among 10 winners in the latest competition, ahead of Ohio.
"North Carolina's children today are one step closer to being guaranteed the best education possible - something every child deserves," Perdue said in a statement. "This grant will give us the resources to more aggressively implement our plan to ensure that all of our children graduate ready for a career, college or technical training."
Ed Croom, superintendent of Johnston County schools, was delighted with the news on the eve of the new school year that starts today.
"I think it's great, especially in this time when we're in such financial stress," he said.
It remains to be seen how the money will break down for local districts, but Croom envisions an infusion for schools that focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
What grants can't do
State leaders had to pledge that the money won't be used to supplant operations that may fall victim to budget cuts, said June Atkinson, state schools superintendent. Schools across the nation are facing financial chaos next year when federal stimulus money runs out.
"No one should look at the Race to the Top money as a way of filling holes should and when we face a financial cliff," Atkinson said.
Rather, she said, the money is meant to generate new ways of teaching. So, for example, a district could not use the money to keep teachers who are already on the payroll, but could hire a "graduation coach" to work with students who may be at risk of dropping out. A remote, low-performing school could set up programs in which classrooms have two teachers - one a hands-on facilitator and the other an expert who teaches virtually through computer technology.
"So you could have two people wrapping their best strategies, their best approaches, around students," Atkinson said.
In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Duncan said the grant program, implemented by the administration of President Barack Obama, had produced "breathtaking" reforms by schools across the nation.
North Carolina barely went for Obama in the 2008 election. It is considered a swing state in 2012 and has received significant attention from the administration recently. But Duncan said political considerations were irrelevant to the grant awards. He said the money could affect 13.6 million students in 25,000 schools nationwide.
"We have a 25 percent dropout rate in this country," Duncan said. "That is morally unacceptable and economically unsustainable."
State makes a better bid
Forty-six states sought a total of $4.35 billion in federal money in the competition, which pushed states to rethink the way they deliver education. Delaware and Tennessee were the only winners in the first round of the competition.
After losing in the first round, North Carolina sharpened its proposal. The state won points by adopting national curriculum standards, and the legislature passed a law allowing school districts to convert low-performing schools into charter schools, without those schools counting against the 100-charter limit. Charter schools have been popular with Duncan and the Obama Administration.
Charter school advocates say they want public charters to get a share of the money. Eddie Goodall, president of the N.C. Alliance for Public Charter Schools said the state "has done nothing to expand successful public charter schools." New legislation in North Carolina created "charter lite" high schools, he said, "a far cry from the charter school improvements we thought the Obama Administration was calling for."
Graduation goals
In its proposal, the state set targets for student improvement, including a goal of raising the graduation rate to 85 percent in 2016, up from about 72 percent last year.
North Carolina could remove principals from low-performing schools that don't improve, and districts may have to agree to hand over failing schools to the State Board of Education. The state also would build networks of schools focused on math and science and would create a new teaching corps modeled on the Teach for America program, which recruits top college graduates to teach in poor schools.
To get new teachers to work in low-performing schools, the state will provide them with tuition money to get master's degrees, forgive their student loans or offer them housing.
Duncan praised North Carolina for what he said was a creative approach to recruiting good teachers into high-need rural schools.
Lewis Ferebee, chief of staff of Durham Public Schools, said he views the federal grant as a bonus that will allow schools to try some new practices that had never been financially possible before.
"This is really an opportunity to innovate," he said.
