Peer Reviewers Winnow Race to Top Hopefuls

Expert Panels Play Key Role in $4 Billion Economic-Stimulus Competition

In the competition for $4 billion in Race to the Top grants, states have made their best pitches, a secret jury has debated and scored their applications—and now U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan must decide who’s good enough to make it to the final round.

Mr. Duncan’s announcement of the Race to the Top Fund finalists, which is expected as early as this week, caps a dash by the Department of Education to recruit, vet, and train peer reviewers who wield tremendous power in determining who will win this high-stakes education reform competition.

In this first round of competition, all but 10 states applied for awards financed by the economic-stimulus package that will range from an estimated $350 million to $700 million—badly needed money that...