Our Race to the Top was ConnCAN’s high impact 2010 legislative campaign advocating for four commonsense school reforms—Measuring Effectiveness, World-Class Standards, Superstar Principals and Money Follows the Child—to make Connecticut more competitive in Race to the Top, the federal government’s $4 billion education grant competition.

After Connecticut lost the first round of the Race to the Top, ConnCAN mobilized advocates throughout the state to push for policies that would boost the state’s chances of winning in the second round. As a result, the state legislature passed a Race to the Top law and the state board of education took action that codified three of our four reform goals:

Goal 1: Measuring effectiveness. For the first time, every district in the state will be required to evaluate teachers based on their students’ achievement growth.

Goal 2: World-class standards. The state board of education agreed to adopt the Common Core Standards to create internationally benchmarked goals to strive towards in Connecticut public schools.

Goal 3: Superstar principals. A new pathway to certification allows the state's most talented classroom teachers to become principals.

What we didn’t get:

Goal 4: Money Follows the Child. The Race to the Top law lifts the caps on the number of seats allowed in our high-performing public charter schools but it doesn’t lift the other cap that comes from a lack of money for those seats. Connecticut is still one of just three states that fund our charter schools on a line item in the state budget to be fought over year after year.

 Want to know more? See the Race to the Top blog archive.

 For more information on Race to the Top policies, see ConnCAN’s research publications below:

The report

Read ConnCAN's new report on Connecticut's standing in the Race to the Top: The State of Connecticut Public Education 2009-2010. In addition to our traditional look at the state of Connecticut public schools, this year’s report takes a look at Connecticut’s policy environment: namely, where we stand in the Race to the Top. The report gives us the facts about how our districts are performing, how well our teachers are being trained, and how our educational standards measure up to other states.

The issue briefs

Read ConnCAN's latest research on Connecticut's principal and teacher evaluation policy and how it measures up against the Race to the Top criteria. The Obama administration recognizes that many states’ evaluation systems are broken, and the $4 billion Race to the Top competition incentivizes states to make big changes in this area. As this issue brief shows, Connecticut needs to enact key reforms at the state level to make progress in this area, win sorely-needed federal money, and raise student achievement.

Read ConnCAN's research on Connecticut's charter school law and how it will factor into the state's Race to the Top application. The Obama administration has made the quality of a state’s charter school law a key criterion to win the $4 billion at stake in the federal Race to the Top grant competition. What does a good charter law look like, both across the country and in Connecticut? This issue brief explains what our charter policies look like now and what needs to change.