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The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Update on Race to the Top

To:Members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education
From:Mitchell D. Chester, Ed.D., Commissioner
Date:April 16, 2010

We were disappointed to learn on March 30 that Massachusetts was not selected as one of the two states that won in the first round of Race to the Top. Since that time we have closely reviewed the feedback we received from the U.S. Department of Education (USED) reviewers and analyzed the point structure to better understand where we gained and lost the most points.

We have already begun to review, revise and strengthen our application, and fully intend to reapply for Round 2. Much of our application is strong, but we are focused on improving several key areas prior to the June 1 deadline:

In addition to these areas, Massachusetts lost 15 points for not agreeing to adopt the Common Core Standards by August 2, 2010. This was a difficult loss, given the work we have done to help in the development of these standards. That said, we remain committed to adopting the Common Core Standards only if we confirm that they are either as strong as or stronger than the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks.

Stakeholder engagement

As we did in Round 1, we have plans underway to engage stakeholders from across the Commonwealth in the revision of our application, and to build support for the initiatives. Among them:

Time is extremely short, but we are committed to this work and believe that by June 1 our proposal will be stronger and more competitive than it was in Round 1. Members of my senior staff will walk you through key issues that we are working to address, and we welcome your feedback. For your review we have enclosed the Massachusetts Round 1 score sheet from the USED reviewers, and a rank-ordered listing of all of the states that submitted an application and their final scores.

Enclosures

Download PDF Document
Panel Review Scores for Massachusetts, Phase 1
Download Excel Document
Phase 1 Scores by State