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States Up Ante on Applications for Race to Top

After 39 applicants went home losers from the first round of the Race to the Top competition, many states regrouped and raised the stakes for round two—changing laws to revamp teacher evaluations, drumming up more support from districts and teachers’ unions, and getting more aggressive about turning around low-performing schools.

The result is a field of 35 states , plus the District of Columbia, that have proposed what they assert are their boldest plans yet in hopes of capturing part of the remaining $3.4 billion in the second, and maybe last, round of the federal education sweepstakes.

Colorado rewrote its laws on teacher evaluation and tenure so that half of an educator’s rating is based on student performance, and ineffective teachers can be dismissed more easily. Rhode Island’s application is now supported by 30 percent of its local teachers’ unions, up from 5 percent in the first round. Illinois will demand more of its principal-preparation programs, starting by making them...