%0 Book %A National Research Council %T Letter Report to the U.S. Department of Education on the Race to the Top Fund %D 2009 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12780/letter-report-to-the-us-department-of-education-on-the-race-to-the-top-fund %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12780/letter-report-to-the-us-department-of-education-on-the-race-to-the-top-fund %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Education %P 19 %R doi:10.17226/12780 %X This report examines the Race to the Top initiative--a $4.35 billion grant program included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to encourage state-level education reforms. The report strongly supports rigorous evaluations of programs funded by the Race to the Top initiative. The initiative should support research based on data that links student test scores with their teachers, but should not prematurely promote the use of value-added approaches, which evaluate teachers based on gains in their students' performance, to reward or punish teachers. The report also cautions against using the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal assessment that helps measure overall U.S. progress in education, to evaluate programs funded by the Race to the Top initiative.