Race to the Top

State Success Due in Part to College Goals

In its final Race to the Top Guidelines, the U.S. Department of Education has included a requirement that states demonstrate certain “State Success Factors”—one of which is the State’s plan for “increasing college enrollment…and increasing the number of students who complete at least a year’s worth of college credit that is applicable to a degree within two years…”  This requirement signals the shift in focus in American education and the necessity of postsecondary learning in the modern global marketplace. 

College Summit’s view is that the most credible way to commit to increasing college enrollment and proficiency rates is to use a four-part framework of postsecondary planning, professional development, actionable data production, and peer leadership to cultivate a high school culture where college-going is the expectation, not the exception.

Guide for Meeting the State Success Factors

Our Guide for Meeting the State Success Factors provides a comprehensive analysis of the new Race to the Top Success Factors, and recommends a process for ensuring that states develop a plan for increasing college enrollment and proficiency that satisfies the Race to the Top criteria. 

This new development in the Race to the Top Guidelines reflects a viewpoint that College Summit has had for some time—namely, that it is essential that high school be repurposed to focus on college enrollment and college proficiency.  This viewpoint was elaborated in our white paper, The Promise of Proficiency, co-released with the Center for American Progress in December 2009, which proposes that the metrics being provided to high schools align with the new mission of high school.

Our December 2009 New York Times Op-Ed also celebrates the shift in the mission of high schools, and calls on the government to empower schools to make this shift by giving them the tools necessary to do so.

College Summit Founder and CEO J.B. Schramm commends the Department of Education

on starting of a new chapter in American education with Race to the Top.

January Race to the Top Webinar

Building on College Summit’s Guide to Meeting the State Success Factors and recent op-ed in The New York Times, we convened a webinar for state leaders Thursday, January 7th to share best practices regarding Race to the Top’s State Success Factors. 

In the Webinar, College Summit staff shared the most advanced and informed thinking regarding

(1)     how states can credibly set college enrollment and college proficiency goals in Race to the Top applications as required by the U.S. Department of Education’s State Success Factors;

(2)     and how states can credibly describe their plans to increase college enrollment and college proficiency rates throughout their applications. 


You can view the PowerPoint that outlines these ideas and feel free to contact the Public Affairs team for more details:

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