Education First Consulting

The Issue

Ohio has a bold history of leading national education reform efforts, from its early progress in aligning standards, assessments and accountability tools to using value-added student data to gauge authentic performance gains. The result of two decades of education reform leadership is reflected in the state’s rise from the middle of the pack to number five in Education Week Quality Counts (January 2010). Now Ohio strives to move from “Fifth to First,” using Race to the Top as a catapult.

What We Did

Education First— with proven experience in marshaling other states to Race to the Top success including Hawaii, Maryland, Tennessee— began its engagement with the Ohio Department of Education in April 2010, thanks to the generosity of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum. As its first order of business, Education First prepared a comprehensive benchmarking analysis of Ohio’s Round 1 proposal, identifying strategies for improvement, key policy gaps and specific steps for closing those gaps. The analysis was designed as a detailed roadmap guiding state leaders to a winning Round 2 proposal. To facilitate the process, Education First delivered presentations, facilitated regular conversations among stakeholders and engaged as a chief thought partner with the state’s leadership team.

From a policy perspective, Education First served as a critical strategist, constantly pushing leaders to consider not only the next best policy move, but the implementation steps necessary to get there. Tactically, the firm provided editing support on the final proposal and closely advised the state’s leadership team on its grant presentation and interview process.

The Outcome

On August 24, Ohio was announced as one of 10 winners of Race to the Top’s Round 2 competition. The second round of competition was fierce, with 36 states and the District of Columbia reapplying, including all of Round 1 finalists. Gaining 22.2 points from its Round 1 application, Ohio’s application ranked 10th among the success states and was awarded $400 million to advance its education reform agenda.

Why It Matters

With eight major urban centers and the nation’s fourth largest concentration of rural students, including 32 designated-Appalachian counties, Ohio has uncommon educational challenges that require sophisticated, nuanced approaches. With this $400 million Race to the Top award, more than 1 million students—470,000 of whom live in poverty—in nearly 2,500 schools will immediately benefit from enhanced, cutting-edge teaching and learning opportunities.