RTTT

Race to the Top
Race to the Top, (AKA RTT, R2T, RTTT) is a grant created by the United States Department of Education, and funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It founded and announced by President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on July 25, 2009.

Under this policy, states are given points based on satisfying certain standards. Some of these standards include performance and effectiveness measurements for educators. While meeting these standards provided the schools with monetary rewards, they also geared them towards professional development. Other goals include adopting common standards, adoption of policies that do not prohibit (or effectively prohibit) the expansion of high-quality charter schools, building and using data systems and, turning around the lowest-performing schools.

Point Distribution and Criteria
19 states received rewards ranging from $19 million to $700 million.
 * Great Teachers and Leaders (138 total points)
 * Improving teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance (58 points)
 * Ensuring equitable distribution of effective teachers and principals (25 points)
 * Providing high-quality pathways for aspiring teachers and principals (21 points)
 * Providing effective support to teachers and principals (20 points)
 * Improving the effectiveness of teacher and principal preparation programs (14 points)
 * State Success Factors (125 total points)
 * Articulating State's education reform agenda and LEAs' participation in it (65 points)
 * Building strong statewide capacity to implement, scale up, and sustain proposed plans (30 points)
 * Demonstrating significant progress in raising achievement and closing gaps (30 points)
 * Standards and Assessments (70 total points)
 * Developing and adopting common standards (40 points)
 * Supporting the transition to enhanced standards and high-quality assessments (20 points)
 * Developing and implementing common, high-quality assessments (10 points)
 * General Selection Criteria (55 total points)
 * Ensuring successful conditions for high-performing charters and other innovative schools (40 points)
 * Making education funding a priority (10 points)
 * Demonstrating other significant reform conditions (5 points)
 * Turning Around the Lowest-Achieving Schools (50 total points)
 * Turning around the lowest-achieving schools (40 points)
 * Intervening in the lowest-achieving schools and LEAs (10 points)
 * Data Systems to Support Instruction (47 total points)
 * Fully implementing a statewide longitudinal data system (24 points)
 * Using data to improve instruction (18 points)
 * Accessing and using State data (5 points)

Race to the Top Today
Race to the Top provided teachers with training opportunities and the ability to customize individual students learning experience. However, some educators criticize the program because they believe that state tests are not effective. Under the Trump administration, schools are being encouraged to have more personalized choices in education.