Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Full Text: Hawaii DoE submitted error in first round of Race to The Top application
By Selected News Articles @ 6:51 PM :: 7546 Views :: Energy, Environment

NJ Star-Ledger: Hawaii submitted error in first-round of Race to the Top application

TRENTON — New Jersey was not the only state to make an error on its application for the Race to the Top competition. Hawaii omitted a response to an entire section of the application it wrote for the competition’s first round, a mistake that cost it 25 points.

After submitting a complete, error-free application for Race to the Top’s second round of the competition, Hawaii finished in third place with a score of 462.4 and won $75,000,000 to enact its proposed education reforms.

The small island state noticed its error and contacted the U.S. Department of Education in hopes of providing an answer for the missing section, but Hawaii Department of Education Communications Director Sandra Goya said she was told the competition does not allow revisions.

“It was a technical glitch in a 900-plus page application,” Goya said. “The competition had strict deadlines, and it would not have been fair to make changes.”

In a conference call with reporters today, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan confirmed that second-round winner Hawaii submitted an incomplete application in the first round, but that in spite of the error, he saw “real potential” in the state’s proposals.

"They didn't have a chance to put their best foot forward," Duncan said.

FULL TEXT:  DoE Flunks test in Phase One

Hawaii

Application download files PDF (1.08M)

Appendix download files PDF (137M)

Score sheet download files PDF (43.6K)

Reviewers' comments and scores download files PDF (3.65M)

 

Huffington Post: Race to the Top's Biggest Losers

The only real surprise in the announcement of round-two finalists was that Arizona, California and Hawaii had made the cut. (They had fared poorly enough in round one - all finishing outside the top 20 -- that it seemed they had little chance in round two. But Arizona woke up from the dead, and California -- perhaps because of extra encouragement from Education Secretary Arne Duncan -- didn't give up despite its failure to secure teacher-union support.)

Now the biggest surprise isn't just that Hawaii won, securing for itself $75 million, but that it finished a very respectable third overall. In round one, Hawaii finished a distant 22nd, its application garnering only 364.6 points out of 500. Its second-round application was given 462.4 points, which was the biggest improvement by far of any winning state.

Secretary Duncan said Hawaii's extraordinary jump was a result of the fact that its first-round application was incomplete, so its low score didn't reflect its true potential. In her May 27th cover letter to Secretary Duncan, Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle pointed out that "Hawaii is in a unique position to demonstrate that the reforms embodied in ARRA and the education agenda of President Obama's Administration can be implemented statewide" because the Aloha State is alone among its peers in having a single state-wide school district. Whether this argument helped sway Duncan or Race to the Top reviewers is difficult to know, but it was one of many new aspects to Hawaii's round-two application.

A few other thoughts on Hawaii: its second-round application was nearly twice as long as its first-round application, and it's the only state west of the Mississippi River to have won. A number of reporters who asked questions of Duncan on Aug. 24th noted that the winners tended to be "urban" states -- and, with the exceptions of Hawaii and Ohio, located on the Eastern seaboard. Duncan replied by saying that "geography was irrelevant" in the judging process.

US Department of Education:

FULL TEXT: Hawaii DoE’s successful second round RTTT application

Hawaii

Application download files PDF (1.46M)

Appendix download files PDF (96.2M)

Score sheet download files PDF (113KB)

Reviewers' comments and scores download files PDF (5.31M)

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii