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Latest Challenge in 'Race to Top': Find Review Team for Applicants

Department Must Weigh Expertise, Potential for Conflicts of Interest

The U.S. Department of Education is seeking 50 to 80 outside judges to help award $4 billion in Race to the Top Fund grants under the economic-stimulus program—job openings that demand both education policy expertise and a detached interest in the high-stakes education reform competition.

Finding such “disinterested superstars,” as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has called them, could be difficult, given the scope, scale, and money attached to the competition, observers say.

Race to the Top grant applications, which will be submitted by states starting later this year, will touch on most corners of the education policy arena, from teacher quality and data systems to turnaround strategies for struggling schools and common academic standards. Those are also the four education reform “assurances”...