Race to the Top. Florida Report. Year 1: School Year 2010-2011. [State-Specific Summary Report]
Author: Department of Education (ED)
Date: 2012-01-10
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Academic Standards,Accountability,Achievement Gains,Achievement Gap,Administrator Effectiveness,Administrator Evaluation,Best Practices,Budgets,Career Planning,Charter Schools,Competition,Data,Disabilities,Educational Assessment,Educational Change,Educational Improvement,Elementary Secondary Education,English Curriculum,Federal Legislation,Federal State Relationship,Graduation Rate,Grants,Higher Education,Language Arts,Leadership Effectiveness,Mathematics,Measurement Objectives,Models,Outcomes of Education,Performance Based Assessment,Poverty,Principals,Professional Development,Program Evaluation,Program Implementation,School Districts,School Effectiveness,School Turnaround,State Government,STEM Education,Systems Approach,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Evaluation

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of Florida's Year 1 Race to the Top implementation, highlighting successes and accomplishments, identifying challenges, and providing lessons learned from implementation to date. Florida received a Race to the Top award in September 2010 as part of Phase 2 of the Race to the Top competition. Since receiving the award, the State has made progress in implementing several reform projects. These projects include assisting LEAs in designing new teacher and principal evaluation systems that use multiple measures, including a statewide value-added model for measuring student-growth; helping LEAs begin the transition to new Common Core State Standards (CCSS); launching the Local Systems Exchange (LSE) that allows LEAs to share information on their Local Instructional Improvement Systems; and engaging stakeholders through the creation and engagement of eight Implementation Committees. Florida encountered obstacles in implementing its Race to the Top plan during the first year of the grant. Since receiving its Race to the Top award, Florida has elected a new Governor and has had three Commissioners of Education. These leadership transitions have proven challenging as Florida Department of Education (FDOE) Race to the Top program staff work to update the new leaders on the Race to the Top plan. In addition, the State experienced difficulties in hiring staff at the State level and in the regions, which slowed the start of some Race to the Top activities. The State's most significant challenge is executing the large number and scope of contracts associated with its Race to the Top plan. Florida budgeted approximately 98 percent of its Race to the Top State-level funds for contracts. Despite its experience with managing contracts, the State has struggled to issue contracts in a timely manner. Leadership changes, legal challenges, disparate vendor quality in some initial responses, the lack of staff needed to execute the large number of contracts, and difficulties in hiring qualified individuals contributed to significant delays in Year 1 and have resulted in the start date of many Year 1 activities shifting to Year 2 or beyond. As part of its planning for Year 2 of the grant, Florida is considering ways to build on its accomplishments and address its challenges from Year 1. The State found the stakeholder input from the Student Growth Implementation Committee, coupled with national expertise, to be very valuable in the development of its statewide value-added student growth model. The State plans to use this collaborative effort as a model for continued work across reform areas. The State is also learning from its experience with Race to the Top contracts issued to date and is using the lessons learned to try and avoid contract delays in the future. Florida states that it is managing contract timelines in a manner that will allow it to make up for time lost on activities not started in Year 1. In addition, Florida is using a project management system to facilitate oversight of its many contracts once they are executed. Finally, the State is working with a vendor to conduct a formative and summative evaluation of its Race to the Top implementation that the State expects will provide insight into its progress and areas in need of improvement. A glossary is included. (Contains 6 footnotes.) [For the full report, &quot;Race to the Top. Florida. State-Reported APR: Year One,&quot; see ED529311. For &quot;Race to the Top Annual Performance Report,&quot; see ED529267.]