Statement of Robin Steans, Advance Illinois Executive Director:

Illinois should be proud it produced such a strong Race to the Top application, which earned national recognition for its ‘groundbreaking’ supporting legislation, ’standout’ support from stakeholders and a thorough plan. The team that represented Illinois during the interview process performed admirably and deserve our thanks. Congratulations to Delaware and Tennessee for clearing the Department of Education’s “very, very high bar.”

So, how does Illinois, clear that bar for Phase 2? Our 5th place finish means we have a strong shot at winning Phase 2, but we have work to do. With more than $3.4 billion still available, we hope state leaders will take a close look at feedback from our reviewers and take a fresh look at what additional strategies might further improve our application and, more importantly, how we serve children.

To that end, state leaders and lawmakers would be well-advised to work on ensuring full support for the application and reforms from more districts across the state. While Illinois should be pleased that more than 74% of students were represented by districts that signed on to Phase 1, we can do better, and Delaware and Tennessee proved how much it matters by getting support from districts representing all students in their states.

In this time of fiscal challenge in Illinois, some might say this is too much to ask in such a short time. We say that with more than $400 million in the offing and our economic future on the line, this is too good an opportunity to pass up. And with only two winning states, more than $3.4 billion is still in play.

Race to the Top continues to create an opportunity for Illinois to make significant infrastructure investments and investments in human capital than we might otherwise not be able to make in these tight fiscal times - an opportunity to expand our technology platform, to provide additional mentoring and training to teachers and principals, to create engaging curricula that blend career skills with college-ready skills, and to move toward more sophisticated assessments to help inform teaching and learning.

A Phase 2 investment would be a significant step on a path toward an education system that prepares all our children, no matter where they’re born, to be world ready. The citizens of this great state deserve no less.

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Delaware and Tennessee have won Phase 1 of the $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition.   The DoE announced the winners by twitter today.  Read more in the WSJ.   Illinois was a finalist, and will now start the work toward Phase 2.

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Illinois scores on national reading tests remained flat in 2009, an indication that transformative reform is needed for the state’s schools.  Performance on these tests, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), have been flat for several years.  Achievement gaps have also remained essentially the same over the past six years, though they’ve improved slightly over that time period. Learn more on the NAEP website, including a special page on Illinois scores. Coverage from the Washington Post is here.
Related:  Students in the nation’s urban school districts have improved markedly in mathematics and reading proficiency as measured both on state exams and the National Assessment of Educational Progress, according to a new report by the Washington-based Council of the Great City Schools. EdWeek coverage here.

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