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A Grand Bargain

Using 'Race to the Top' Money to Realign the System

By Theodore Hershberg & Claire Robertson-Kraft

Education policymakers and practitioners have long searched for a fair system that will help teachers and administrators reach higher levels of performance, identify and reward good practice, and, most importantly, accelerate student achievement. The new Race to the Top grants being made available to states may finally provide the necessary resources to create this new and better school system. In fact, the convergence of necessity, knowledge, resources, and political will taking place now could sweep fundamental reform into American public education.

After two decades of research using value-added methodologies to track the annual progress of individual students, we now know empirically that teachers are the single most important factor affecting academic growth. Yet, despite teachers’ importance, recent studies have demonstrated that our evaluation and compensation systems are not designed to effectively identify, reward, or develop high-quality instruction.

The U.S. Department of Education’s proposed guidelines for awarding grants from its Race to the Top Fund have made clear that these systems need to change. In recent remarks , President Barack Obama has let policymakers know that the $4 billion in Race to the Top money will go only “to states that use data effectively to reward effective teachers, to support teachers who are struggling, and when necessary, to replace teachers who aren’t...