Kentucky's Second Race to the Top Application Submitted Today

by Stephanie CrosbyThe Kentucky Department of Education is submitting the state’s new application for federal Race to the Top dollars today. A new aspect of the application is a provision that would tie teacher evaluations – in part – to student achievement.Spokesperson Lisa Gross says the Race to the Top program wants to see progress in student achievement.“In order to gauge student achievement, we have to have things in place like tests and accountability programs and so forth," says Gross, "and Race to the Top also puts the responsibility for raising student achievement on the grown-ups, on teachers, on administrators.”Gross says Kentucky could receive up to $175-million in this round of Race to the Top. In the first round, only two states received awards.She says Kentucky missed out on the first round because of its lack of charter schools. That still hasn’t been addressed in the most recent application, because the General Assembly hasn’t changed state law to allow such schools.