Welcome back to “The competition,” our weekly spotlight on other states competing for Race to the Top funds.

Runners to watch: Colorado and Delaware

Here’s why: When it comes to the bid for Race to the Top funds, Education Week blogger Alyson Klein likens Colorado to an eager student “furiously taking notes and leaping up to answer every single one of the teacher’s questions.” And with no charter school caps and an effective data system that other states have adopted, it’s no wonder the state was slated early on as a leader in the Race.

There is a major weakness in Colorado’s application, however: it lacks a detailed plan to ensure teacher quality. The state promised to expand merit pay for teachers, quadruple the number of Teach for America recruits and make student achievement growth account for 50 percent of teacher evaluations, yet hasn’t outlined specific steps to do so. Governor Bill Ritter will instead appoint a council to develop an implementation plan by December 2010. This move garnered a broad swathe of local support for the state’s application—over two-thirds of its districts signed on—but Andy Smarick of the Fordham Institute described it as "potentially knocking a frontrunner back several spots." Time will tell how this decision affects an otherwise strong application.

Delaware’s application is also promising, having had a head start with Vision 2015, the wide-ranging reform program the state began in 2006. The reform efforts, which include more time in school, tougher standards, and principal autonomy, seem to be paying off; an analysis by Education Trust recently named Delaware as a national leader in terms of closing its achievement gap. Already on the path to reform, Delaware’s application is sure to stand out, especially as judges look for states with policy environments conducive to reform.

Finally, both Delaware and Colorado were among six states just selected to be part of a three-year, $75 million partnership with Mass Insight Education and Research institute. The initiative will focus on turning around low-performance schools, which happens to be one of the major evaluation criteria of Race to the Top.