Race to the Top report praises, cites problem areas for Tennessee

The U.S. Department of Education released its progress report today for the 11 states, and the District of Columbia, that received Race to the Top funds in the two award periods beginning in 2010, according to the The Commercial Appeal.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan acknowledged Tennessee, Hawaii, North Carolina and Delaware for making advances under the initiative, which was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

“Tennessee was able to provide training for 30,000 educators, led by 700 of its most effective teachers,” Duncan said, “and has targeted resources to close the achievement gap.”

Other states in the program are Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island.

Tennessee was cited for continued delays in a data system to identify students most likely to fail or drop out, in order to give schools enough time to intervene. It earned a demerit for uneven achievement in its regional STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) schools across the level of support the schools receive from business and industry and nonprofits.

Read reports about Race to the Top here.