The application period for Race to the Top assessment money is officially over. They were due at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time today, and by taxicab and airplane, they rolled in.
See my colleague Stephen Sawchuk’s story on the applications submitted by the three consortia that we know applied. It could be that these are the only three that submitted applications. It also could be that we’ll be surprised by one or more contenders when the Education Department gives us its final tally on applicants. As usual, stay tuned.
(And I’m not kidding about the modes of transportation. One consortium sent someone over in a taxi to turn in the application. Another flew someone out on a plane from the West Coast. There were jokes that this person had the application in a briefcase, handcuffed to a wrist. You’d think that in this cyber age, someone would have just pushed a button. But remember that each group had to have memoranda of understanding from dozens of states, all with original signatures from Very Important People. Apparently, there was no trusting that to cyberspace.)