What is Race to the Top (RttT)?
Race to the Top (RttT) is a $4.35 billion United States Department of Education program designed to spur reforms in state and local district K-12 education. It is funded by the ED Recovery Act as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and was announced by President Barack Obama on July 24, 2009.

State applications for funding were scored on selection criteria:
Great Teachers and Leaders
State Success Factors
Standards and Assessments
General Selection
Data Systems to Support Instruction

The Result
Many states took actions to make their applications more competitive, and OHIO was one of these states. Unfortunately, OHIO was not accepted in the first round of states to be recognized and awarded RttT dollars. Undeterred, OHIO revised its application, represented its updated plan, and it was accepted in the 2nd round. Franklin Local School’s application for participation was part of the initial and second round applications. Many teachers and the administration worked long hours developing a plan that would transform the district’s programs not to teach the students for today, but rather to teach for the future.

Keep Reading
We invite you to stay informed by reading our posts about the RttT process and work within the district. 
The Franklin Local Success Story

The Franklin Local School District has gone from red to green during the Race to the Top grant period, our Performance Index has increased over six points and the Franklin Local School District was rated Excellent for the first time ever for the 2011 school year.  Our efforts have been recognized with a 2012 SOAR Most Improved Award!

At Franklin Local, our biggest need over the years has been the ability to offer a rigorous and relevant curriculum that meets the needs of all students.  We have a strong need to intervene early with students entering school and closing the achievement gap between our identified subgroups.  The challenge has been finding a way to make big changes in a small district.     

Being part of RttT and the Ohio Appalachian Collaborative has allowed us the opportunity to go down a path that we may never have chosen.  This grant gave us the collaborative ability and the foresight to embrace transformation within our district through new standards surrounding college and career readiness and using data as a tool for improving teacher effectiveness and student performance.  Our collaboration with more than 20 other OAC districts and our distributed leadership approach for professional development has been the support system we needed to move forward with such an ambitious task.  Above all, the efforts of our teachers have been without a doubt, the biggest factor in our success. 

Race to the Top in and of itself has been no small challenge.  The challenge in the Franklin Local School District has been keeping up with the level of innovative change expected through Race to the Top.  The work of RttT has not only upped the rigor for our students, but for teachers and administrators as well.  FLSD teachers have diligently kept the pace set through our RttT Scope of Work, but not without each and every one of us being pushed professionally. 

As we move forward on our RttT journey, we will continue to be challenged by the scope of work that we have set forth to accomplish.  We are confident though, that the Franklin Local School District will continue to thrive as we connect for success!

 
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