RTT-D_Grant Handbook

Page: 1
Race to the Top
for Districts
A unique opportunity to create
transformative change through
personalized and connected learning.

Page: 2SectionTitle Here
If your LEA has the leadership and vision to turn
around our lowest performing schools by enabling
teachers to differentiate instruction for every
student, we can help.
866.202.RTTD (866.202.7883)
GrantExperts@Pearson.com
www.rttdistrictgrant.com

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Table of Contents
Grant Summary.......................................................................................................................................................................4
Core Assurance Areas
Core Assurance Area 1...............................................................................................................................................6
Absolute Priority 1
Creating Robust Data Systems...............................................................................................................................10
Empowering Individualized Instruction to Deepen Student Learning..............................................11
Implementing Continuous Measurement to Accelerate Student Achievement.........................12
Leveraging a Personalized Learning Environment to Engage Students............................................13
Delivering Dynamic Content to Decrease Achievement Gaps...........................................................14
Increasing Educator Effectiveness...........................................................................................................................16
Tips for Grant Writers
6 Project Requirements...............................................................................................................................................18
Keys to Successful Learning Environment Projects......................................................................................20
Grant RulesThat Could DisqualifyYou...............................................................................................................22
Top 10 Grant WritingTips.........................................................................................................................................23
MakeYour Application Stand Out.........................................................................................................................25
Tips for Consortiums...................................................................................................................................................27

Page: 4Grant Summary
Grant Summary
While this grant is a tremendous opportunity for
additional funding, be aware it will be extremely
competitive.This project will require major logistical
coordination and many districts have limited ability to
move quickly as the school year is underway.
To better assist you in the grant planning and
application, we have created this Race to theTop
for Districts Grant Handbook. Parallel to the format
of the application, we will first discuss the main
requirements of the grant and an overview of best
practices to use with each Core Assurance Area.
Following the Core Assurance Areas, we will cover
Absolute Priority 1 and describe the Pearson vision
and capabilities that align with each of the Priority
components.And finally, we have included several
grant-writing guides that are specific to the RTT-D
opportunity.
Below is a summary of the RTT-D grant requirements.
The full regulations are available at http://www.ed.gov/
race-top/district-competition.
Overview
Race to theTop District competition (RTT-D) - $400
million total
Purpose of Grant
Reward Local Education Agencies (LEAs) who have
the leadership and vision to implement the strategies,
structures and systems of support to move to
personalized, student-focused approaches to teaching
and learning that will use collaborative, data-based
strategies and 21st century tools to deliver instruction
and supports tailored to the needs and goals of each
student, with the goal of enabling all students to
graduate college- and career-ready.
Focus
All applicants must create Personalized Learning
Environments that are designed to:
• Significantly improve teaching and learning
through the personalization of strategies, tools,
and supports for teachers and students that are
aligned with college- and career-ready standards
• Increase the effectiveness of educators, and
expand student access to the most effective
educators in order to raise student achievement
• Decrease the achievement gap across student
groups
• Increase the rates at which students graduate
from high school prepared for college and careers
Number of Grants to be Awarded
15-25 awards nationally
Dollars Per Award
Number of Participating Students Award Range
2000-5000 $5-10 million
5001-10,000 $10-20 million
10,001-25,000 $20-30 million
25,000+ $30-40 million

Page: 5
Timeline
Applications due: October 30, 2012
Distribution of funds: End of December
Length of award: 4 years
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applicants include only individual LEAs and
consortia of LEAs.
• Minimum of 2000 participating students.
Consortiums can serve fewer than 2,000
students, if the consortium has at least 10 LEAs
and at least 75% of the students served by each
LEA are participating students
• At least 40% of participating students must be
from low-income families
• Must demonstrate a track record of commitment
to the core education assurance areas, including
an assurance signed by each LEA’s authorized
legal representative that
o The LEA has, at a minimum, designed and
committed to implement no later than the
2014-15 school year
• A teacher evaluation system
• A principal evaluation system
• A LEA superintendent evaluation
o The LEA has a robust data system that has, at
a minimum
• An individual teacher identifier with a
teacher-student match
• Capability to provide timely data back
to educators and their supervisors on
student growth
o The LEA has the capability to receive or
match student level preschool through
12th grade and higher education data
LEAs may apply for all or a portion of their schools,
for specific grades, or for subject area bands
(e.g., lowest-performing schools, secondary schools,
feeder pattern, middle school math, or preschool
through third grade).
• LEAs may join a consortium that includes LEAs
across one or more states
• Each LEA may participate in only one Race to the
Top – District application
Grant Summary

Page: 6Core Assurance Areas
In order to be eligible for the Race to theTop District
(RTT-D) competition, applicants must demonstrate
their commitment to each of the five core
educational assurance areas.These include:
• An implemented teacher, principal, and
superintendent evaluation system
• Commitment to preparing students for college or
careers
• A robust data system capable of creating the
teacher-student match and providing feedback
• Capability to receive or match preschool through
higher education data
• Compliance with the Family Education Rights and
Privacy Act (FERPA)
Core Assurance Area 1
“The LEA, at a minimum, will implement no later than
the 2014-15 school year, a teacher evaluation
system, a principal evaluation system, and a
superintendent evaluation.”1
While the evaluation system need not be in
place at the time of application, Local Education
Agencies (LEAs) must assure that the system will be
implemented in all schools in the district no later than
the 2014-15 school year.
While teacher evaluation systems are becoming
more prominent, the grant calls for a system that
evaluates principals and superintendents as well.The
U.S. Department of Education defines superintendent
evaluation as,“a rigorous, transparent, and fair annual
evaluation of an LEA superintendent [or principal]
that provides an assessment of performance and
encourages professional growth.This evaluation
must reflect: (1) the feedback of many stakeholders,
including but not limited to educators, principals, and
parents; and (2) student outcomes.”2
Pearson helps educators gain insight into their
performance—what’s working, what isn’t, and what
they need to do to continuously improve their
impact on student learning. By giving educators
the tools to personalize their own improvement
plans, professional development opportunities, and
leadership support services, they are empowered
to reach students in ever more meaningful ways and
accelerate achievement for all.
“The LEA is committed to preparing all students for
college or career, as demonstrated by being located
in a State that has adopted college- and career-
ready standards, or measuring all student progress
and performance against college- and career-ready
graduation requirements.”3
In order for students to be competitive in a 21st
century global economy, they need to be equipped
with the knowledge and skills indicative of future
success.The Common Core State Standards, as
well as other college and career readiness content
standards, provide a roadmap for what students
need at each grade level to be prepared for future
learning. Starting with what students need to know in
college and careers and working backward through
high school, middle school, elementary school, and
earlier creates an aligned system of content standards.
These content standards can help students master
foundational concepts at each level so they are
ready for the next. Instructional materials and
professional development must be provided on these
new standards.
1.“Race to theTop – District Guidance and FAQ, p. 6, U.S. Department of Education,” Sept. 5, 2012. http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-district/index.html
2. Ibid., 11.
3. Ibid, 6.

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Once our standards are in place, assessments must
then be built to match the depth and breadth of
knowledge present in the standards. Information
reported back from these assessments, whether
formative, interim, or summative in nature, should
provide information about student progress toward
college and career readiness. One way to provide
such information is through setting performance
standards on the assessments. Using Evidence Based
Standard Setting–whereby empirical evidence is
gathered by linking local or state assessments to
external college readiness benchmarks–college
readiness performance standards can be set to local
or state assessments. Similar to the process used
to develop content standards, the performance
standards can be articulated backward through
previous grades and/or courses in order to provide
indicators about college and career readiness.
Pearson has been the leader in digital learning for
more than 40 years and is the first company to create
K-12 digital math and literacy/literature programs to
match to the new Common Core State Standards.
We offer a variety of high-quality instructional
resources to fit different teaching and learning needs
in today’s digital classrooms. By providing students rich
college and career readiness content and continually
assessing their mastery and monitoring progress, we
can help districts prepare all students to be globally
competitive.
“The LEA has a robust data system that has, at a
minimum, an individual teacher identifier with a
teacher-student match and the capability to provide
timely data back to educators and their supervisors on
student growth.”4
Creating the teacher-student match enables a two-
way feedback loop where exchanged data is analyzed
and converted into actionable information.To create
this, districts need to be able to collect student
demographic, attendance, discipline, enrollment,
and performance data.The data should match
the “teacher of record” by course, which is the
element that truly connects students with educators.
This element is critical to understanding student
performance within the context of teacher education,
qualifications, and practice.
The first step for an LEA in collecting this data and
making the link is to ensure that every school in
the district is using a student information system
(SIS).While every school might have it’s own set of
unique processes and needs, it is important from a
minimum functionality standpoint that all make use
of a SIS. Gone are the days where it is acceptable to
keep track of students on ledgers or spreadsheets,
regardless of the school’s size.
When an Instructional Improvement System (IIS)
is placed on top of a student information system,
districts have access to comprehensive student
information that is linked back to the “teacher of
record”, including: current and historical performance,
discipline, attendance data, teacher notes, and
response to intervention.
Pearson provides the fastest growing, most widely
used student information systems in the world,
supporting over 15 million students in all 50 states
and over 65 countries, as well as the industry-leading
IIS.When these systems are linked, educators have
tools for data analysis and reporting, comprehensive
assessments, standards-aligned curriculum, and
educator development management–a powerful
system for implementing change.
4. Ibid, 6.

Page: 8Core Assurance Areas
“The LEA has the capability to receive or match
student level preschool through 12th grade and higher
education data.”5
The U.S. Department of Education encourages LEAs
to use State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS)
where available to satisfy this requirement rather than
create redundant systems.Where SLDS systems do
not match preschool through grade 12 and higher
education data, the LEA will need to create the
system or utilize an outside partner or vendor to
provide the data.At a minimum, the LEA should have
a way to answer questions such as whether a high
school graduate attends college.
When choosing a data system, LEAs should ensure
that the system integrates with enterprise-level
applications and legacy systems, meets compliance
requirements, and allows access to all data when it is
needed. It should also be flexible enough to scale for
future access that has not yet been identified.
No longer can LEAs view their students as discrete
units they impact only as they pass through the
physical doors of their institutions.The need for a
complete picture of the learner is critical to link
the appropriate resources, programs, and content
to allow for a successful personalized learning
progression. Globally, learning is going digital and
educators need the ability to combine content
from diverse sources to personalize the experience.
Open technical standards are required for this new
paradigm in learning.
When LEAs adopt common data standards that are
developed in an open, consistent, collaborative, and
community-based approach, matching data becomes
simpler. Ideally, high-quality data should originate from
data elements with strict, universally understood
definitions. Unfortunately, this is not always the
case as the data may originate from many different
sources. In most cases, a number of data elements are
used together to calculate more data. It is therefore
important that systems and processes have deliberate
and consistent quality control measures.
Standardized unique identifiers are needed to create
the teacher-student link and allow tracking and
monitoring of student achievement across grades
and educational systems.To mitigate the risk of
unauthorized access, many education agencies are
adopting ID management systems or modules that
control user access. Unified ID management also
coordinates access permissions across systems so that
users are allowed access only to the data that they
are authorized to view.
As the experts in interoperability, Pearson can help
LEAs find a flexible, integrated system based on
common data standards that enable them to fulfill this
grant requirement.
5. Ibid, 6.

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“The LEA ensures that any disclosure of or access to
personally identifiable information in students’ education
records complies with the Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act (FERPA).”6
LEAs awarded this grant may only share student-level
data in a manner consistent with the Family Education
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).To accomplish this,
LEAs should not only comply with FERPA regulations
in their policies, but should also evaluate how they
secure, transport, and dispose of student-level data.
Protection of sensitive data is critical to meeting
FERPA requirements and encryption is a key control
in any data protection scheme. LEAs should also
encrypt backup tapes to prevent data exposure
through loss or theft of the media. Defining role
templates with varying levels of security for each
of the user types ensures access to networks,
systems, and applications, while controlling access to
confidential data. Proper disposal of data at end-of-
life and secure transfer of media containing sensitive
data should follow a strict chain-of-custody process
to confirm proper handling and protection. Securing
end-to-end transfer and degaussing or securely wiping
all media before it is disposed of ensures compliance
with state regulations regarding sensitive data and
FERPA requirements.
By aligning our security policies and principles
with the ISO/IEC 27000 set of standard, Pearson’s
protection strategies adhere to internationally
recognized standards and best practices in security.
During our many years of processing confidential
information, we have developed rigorous standards to
secure confidential data throughout its lifecycle.This
helps us meet regulatory requirements for secure
handling of confidential data set forth by federal
statutes such as FERPA.
Pearson utilizes various encryption protocols in many
of its standard services, establishes role-based access
and permissions as established by our customers,
and can provide specific solutions based upon
program requirements. Pearson has the experience
and capability to apply data management solutions,
online testing solutions, and other hardware or
software solutions within the context of educational
requirements, as well as train system users to follow
the privacy and confidentiality provisions of FERPA.
6. Ibid, 6.

Page: 10Absolute Priority 1
Absolute Priority 1
There are five absolute priorities in the grant.
All applicants must address Absolute Priority 1,
personalized learning environments.This is the heart
of the application and describes the LEA’s vision for
transformative change. It calls for the personalization
of strategies, tools, and support materials that are
aligned with college- and career-ready standards
to significantly improve learning and teaching for
students and educators.
Absolute Priority 1:
“To meet this priority, an applicant must coherently
and comprehensively address how it will build on the
core educational assurance areas to create learning
environments that are designed to significantly improve
learning and teaching through the personalization of
strategies, tools, and supports for students and educators
that are aligned with college- and career-ready standards
or college- and career-ready graduation requirements;
accelerate student achievement and deepen student
learning by meeting the academic needs of each
student; increase the effectiveness of educators; expand
student access to the most effective educators; decrease
achievement gaps across student groups; and increase
the rates at which students graduate from high school
prepared for college and careers.”7
Creating personalized and connected learning
environments is exactly what Pearson helps LEAs do.
We believe that the best way to accomplish this is to:
• Continuously measure student performance to
inform personalized learning paths
• Deliver dynamic instructional materials aligned
with college- and career-readiness standards
• Increase educator effectiveness for all students
Absolute priorities two through five ask the LEA to
indicate if it is rural or non-rural, and if it is located in
a Race to theTop state.The LEA must simply choose
one and only one of these priorities:
Absolute Priority 2 - Non-Rural LEAs in RTT States
Absolute Priority 3 - Rural LEAs in RTT States
Absolute Priority 4 - Non-Rural LEAs in non-RTT States
Absolute Priority 5 - Rural LEAs in non-RTT States
Creating Robust Data Systems
The Race to theTop District grant requires LEAs to
utilize modern, robust data systems built on open
standards that provide timely, transparent access
to student data through role-based portals for all
stakeholders in the student’s education.The student
information system (SIS) lies at the heart of such a
data system.
The Pearson SIS enables today’s educators to make
timely decisions that impact student performance
while creating a collaborative environment for
parents, teachers, and students to work together in
preparing 21st century learners for the future. By
leveraging the latest web technologies and evolving
web design standards, Pearson presents users with
clean interfaces that are easy to learn and easy to use.
7. Ibid, 14.

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With over a decade of experience in providing web-
based systems, Pearson systems stand alone as the
deepest, most flexible, and most widely used student
information systems available, providing the full range
of features needed by administrators at the district
and school level in addition to portals for teachers,
parents, and students as required by the RTT-D grant.
Through SIF compliance, open platform standards,
and systems built on powerful, modern relational
database management systems, the Pearson SIS
provides the ability to easily share data with other
systems, another key component of the data systems
required by RTT-D.
Empowering Individualized Instruction to Deepen
Student Learning
A personalized approach begins by assessing and
diagnosing each individual student’s needs, plotting
an instructional path based on that data, and then
constantly monitoring performance and adjusting
instruction accordingly.This provides every learner
with a deeply individualized experience that addresses
unique academic needs and provides for richer,
deeper, and more meaningful interaction with the
content.
A key component to this grant is that LEAs begin
by implementing a rigorous improvement process.
Educators and administrators need continuous
feedback about student performance and
insight about opportunities for corrections and
improvement.An Instructional Improvement System
(IIS) is front-and-center in this daily processes. It
provides administrators, teachers, students, and
parents with role-based access to a suite of tools that
enable unprecedented and systemic change across an
education system.
A robust IIS consists of tools for data analysis and
reporting, balanced assessment, standards-aligned
curriculum, response to intervention, and educator
development management, all in one platform
to improve educational decision-making at all
levels of the district.While a district could custom
build reports from a data warehouse, Pearson’s
Instructional Management System (IMS), a component
of the IIS, integrates a variety of data stored in
disparate locations into a single intuitive interface.
Dashboards provide educators and administrators
with an interactive, at-a-glance view of current
student performance – with the ability to drill down
from the district level to the individual student in just
a few clicks.
Teachers can use performance data to drill into
standards or assessments and find recommended
content links to create personalized study plans for
individual students.An IMS gives educators the tools
to focus instruction where it is needed most, clearly
identify struggling students, and create targeted
intervention plans. By directly suggesting instructional
assets based on performance results, the IIS increases
instructional efficacy, saves time, and optimizes
learning strategies for individual students.
Absolute Priority 1
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and dozens of countries for safe, accurate, reliable,
and timely testing.
We understand the complexities inherent in
deploying online testing at scale.And, we have
the proven experience to support the unique
requirements specific to high-stakes testing.The
Pearson platform provides an advanced, intuitive,
and secure testing tunnel for administering
assessments online.A simple, graphics-rich, and
intuitive interface presents questions one-at-a-time
with clear navigation functionality.
Educators can deliver test items not only linearly, but
also adaptively. Using Item-ResponseTheory (IRT)
adaptive algorithms, the system adjusts the difficulty
of test questions being administered to quickly
identify the student’s ability level. Our Computer
AdaptiveTesting (CAT) system incorporates
sophisticated content balancing rules to help verify
that sufficient coverage across a set of standards or
objectives is met.
For years, assessment systems were tied to their
content such that buying a new platform meant
giving up content or investing in new content
meant changing platforms. Our platform is entirely
content neutral.We can upload content from
Implementing Continuous Measurement to
Accelerate Student Achievement
Personalized learning is student-driven learning where
the scope of curriculum is based on the concepts
and skills each student needs to master and the
pace of learning aligns directly to instructional goals.
This student-centric approach accelerates learning
by allocating instructional time based on need and
by enabling students to move more quickly through
content they have already mastered.An authentic,
performance-based assessment system is necessary
to accomplish this.
Districts have many choices for assessments.The
challenge is creating a comprehensive, cohesive, and
efficient system that provides the data needed to
inform instruction, without taking time away from
instruction. Pearson’s comprehensive assessment
platform is a balanced assessment solution—a
secure, flexible, integrated system that supports the
formative assessment process, interimbenchmark
tests, and the state’s high-stakes EOGs and EOCs.
A balanced assessment system helps teachers
pinpoint areas where students need reinforcement by
providing assessment tasks that serve as instructional
problems to enhance existing curriculum, providing
opportunities for daily instruction and sharpening
students’ problem solving skills.
Within the Pearson assessment platform, authorized
users can create or upload new items and tests and
administer them online or on paper with results
delivered through advanced and intuitive reports. In
addition, we offer several optional item banks that
(combined) can provide users with as many as 90,000
CCSS-aligned assessment items covering English
language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies
in grades K–12. For high-stakes state assessments,
Pearson offers additional processes, tools, and
services drawn from its extensive work in 22 states

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virtually any source to work within our assessment
engine.This means you keep the resources with
which your educators, students, and parents are
already familiar, but continue to build and refine
your content repository and nimbly adapt to the
changing assessment landscape.With the large and
ever-growing amount of assessment content in the
system, Pearson provides powerful and user-friendly
content search tools. Users can filter by a host of key
variables, including standard, test stage, test creator,
and keywords.
Pearson understands the importance of providing
equal access to all students regardless of special
needs. Our solution supports a wide range of
research-based accommodations to support students
during online testing.A range of features aid in
reducing the construct-irrelevant effects that student
with disabilities and/or lack of English proficiency
might have on test performance. For example,
animations can be used to reduce the reading
load for English language learners while increasing
engagement and providing contextual information.
The system includes efficient screeners highly
predictive of performance on year-end assessments,
monitoring tools to measure progress and
growth, and diagnostics that help teachers provide
appropriate differentiated instruction, including
targeted and specific instruction.
Pearson’s assessment delivery and data management
support make it easy and convenient to collect
and view data in real time. Educators can easily
assess student performance and progress, academic
strengths and weaknesses relative to standards, and
cognitive abilities and learning styles. Connecting
assessment, standards and instruction, and student
growth through valid, reliable, and actionable data,
Pearson’s assessment system can address each
student’s academic needs.
From next generation approaches to summative
assessments, moving the industry from paper to
online, automated scoring of written responses, to
an Internet-based content delivery platform that
provides millions of secure, high-stakes assessments in
K–12 schools across the country, we are focused on
making student achievement affordable and accessible.
Leveraging a Personalized Learning Environment
to Engage Students
Pearson believes that the traditional LMS falls short
when it comes to increasing student achievement.
We believe that simply providing basic administrative
functions – posting a syllabus, disseminating digital
content, collecting homework – isn’t enough. Students
require the opportunity to wrestle with information
they do not know, bounce ideas off each other, and
play the role of researcher or historian versus simply
being a reporter. In order to drive student success,
the LMS needs to actively engage students and
spark their curiosity while encouraging them to take
ownership of their education.
This is where the Pearson’s personalized learning
environment comes in.Acting in either a standalone
environment or tightly integrated with other strategic
Pearson assets, the learning environment goes well
beyond the traditional LMS. It provides a platform
to deliver basal or supplemental content aligned to
the Common Core State Standards and the ability
Absolute Priority 1
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to personalize content delivery based on assessment
results, but it doesn’t stop there.The platform
incorporates modern social and collaboration tools
to make learning more dynamic, more flexible,
more effective, and more fun. Integration of social
tools, such as discussion threads, within the content
experience provides a far more engaging personalized
learning experience. It also facilitates collaboration
amongst the faculty, enabling such things as sharing
best practice lesson plans from the highly qualified
teachers or even providing virtual access to
those teachers.
Pearson’s personalized learning environment was
designed from the ground up with usability in mind
and is approachable for stakeholders of all technical
aptitudes. Our unique platform enables teachers
to focus on individual needs and allows students to
learn in a manner that fits them best–when, where
and how they want–ultimately driving student
achievement.The core platform is a free cloud-based
environment with zero hardware, licensing, or hosting
costs, making it even more approachable for even the
most cash-strapped districts.
Delivering Dynamic Content to Decrease
Achievement Gaps
One way to achieve a truly personalized learning
experience is by leveraging proven instructional
technologies. Digital curriculum programs offer a
way to bring a completely individualized learning
experience to scale, engaging all students in a
continuous cycle of learning where powerful
technologies enable teachers to assess students
unobtrusively, diagnose learning needs swiftly,
prescribe and continuously adapt personalized
learning plans, and monitor student progress.With
the ability to deliver personalized instruction, every
student—on-level learners, students with disabilities,
English language learners, at-risk students and
everyone in between—receives equitable access to
the individualized attention that he or she needs to
overcome unique learning obstacles.
Pearson offers a variety of high-quality instructional
resources that are aligned with Common Core State
Standards for today’s digital classrooms.These digital
programs provide an effective, sustainable model
for enabling educators to personalize learning for
a diverse student population while being sensitive
to staffing levels and teacher workloads. Our digital
repository and innovative tools are web and mobile-
ready and can be implemented as fully integrated
online or blended learning programs.The services
and support offered through Pearson ensures that
administrators and teachers have the resources
they need—from initial training and implementation
to supplemental training resources and technical
support—to ensure the success of their students.
LEAs can implement digital instruction solutions
to help every single child perform to Common
Core State Standards (CCSS). Our digital path for
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Page: 15
mathematics includes complete and comprehensive
coverage of the Common Core Content Standards
with the Standards for Mathematical Practice infused
throughout every lesson. It also supports teachers
in transition by providing targeted support and
resources, such as an implementation guide, teaching
resources, and observational protocol. Pearson
can provide teachers with the tools they need to
deliver all or a portion of their math course online,
whether their students are in the lab, in a classroom,
or working from home.Tailored professional
development and online video tutorials are available
to support teachers through the implementation of
the digital path in their mathematics classrooms.
Other solutions focus on improving students’ writing
and grammar skills with consistent strategies and
in-depth instruction on the three types of writing
called for by the Common Core writing standards.
The program’s highly prescriptive instruction includes
targeted feedback with specific tips and instruction
to improve student writing so that personalized
coaching meets students at their own skill level and
guides them to independent writing proficiency.
Differentiated instruction boxes and point-of-
use support helps teachers modify instruction for
below-level students, special needs students, English
language learners, above-level students, gifted and
talented students, and Pre-AP students.And because
CCSS also require that students are able to use 21st
century skills in order to be college and career ready,
the solution incorporates group-based, collaborative
writing assignments throughout each unit that require
teamwork and cooperation while writing for 21st
century mediums such as e-mails, blogs, the Internet,
multimedia presentations, and other digital forms.
Still other solutions bring the art of teaching classical
and contemporary literature into the 21st century.
The solution employs a systematic approach to
helping students read texts of increasing complexity,
scaffolding and modeling to ensure that all students
can meet the rigors of the Common Core, and
comprehensive support for developing the reading
and communication skills students need to compete
in today’s world.
From the moment that students sit down and engage
with our personalized learning programs, they are
acquiring the 21st century skills essential for success
in today’s world.Within the context of building core
subject area knowledge, students are learning to think
critically, solve problems, and communicate effectively
using technology. Students become more culturally
aware with content that exposes them to different
cultures, historical figures and events and become
more self-directed learners with lessons and activities
that empower students to make choices and apply
what they learn.
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Absolute Priority 1

Increasing Educator Effectiveness
The heavy lifting of creating these personalized
environments should done by technology, not the
teacher.This increases teacher capacity–freeing
teachers to focus efforts where they’re most needed.
To increase teacher efficacy, districts need increased
insight into the relationship between educator and
student performance through fair, valid, and reliable
educator evaluation systems. Finally, districts need
to create opportunities for educator professional
development to help them improve their practice.
A good educator evaluation process begins with a
path from consultation to observation and then to
evaluation. In Pearson’s Instructional Improvement
System (IIS), tools are provided to schedule each
evaluation event, notify the stakeholders, and then
document the events in a collaborative web space.
Pearson understands that this process and its
components may vary from district-to-district, so
the IIS allows for flexibility and district customization
in the implementation of these processes. Districts
may incorporate the professional standards and
frameworks of their choosing in their evaluations.
Additionally, they may use any evaluation rubric to
quantify observation results.The IIS collaborative
environment provides easy, two-way communication
between evaluator and subject.
Evaluations frequently lead to professional
development plans and recommendations for
professional growth activities. Pearson’s IIS internally
links evaluations with opportunities for growth and
improvement.The system provides for the banking
and cataloging of an unlimited number of professional
resources.The format of these resources can include,
but is not limited to, documents, videos, webinars,
district-lead workshops, and college credit-bearing
courses.This professional development catalog
becomes the complete repository for all district
efforts to encourage, support, and provide what
is need to increase educator effectiveness. Most
importantly, this catalog is aligned to the specific
educator frameworks that are used in the before-
mentioned evaluation process and the IIS has an
internal intelligence that can make recommendations
from the catalog based on evaluation results.
The evaluation of educator effectiveness is also
contingent upon student achievement.This is often
measured using state assessment data and/or
district benchmarking data.The robust data system
within the IIS provides for the analysis of these
student performance data points. Districts can also
incorporate student perception surveys as a part of
the evaluation process, if desired.
In addition to the IIS, Pearson has a deep portfolio
of professional services spanning a wide spectrum
of offerings–from program-, content-, and function-
specific professional development and leadership
support services to intensive school- and system-
wide instructional, cultural, and technology-focused
transformation services. Our highly qualified and
certified expert consultants deliver these services

Page: 17
onsite in face-to-face and job-embedded modes
or blended with online options to leverage cost-
effectiveness.All of our services meet the demand for
rigor, accountability, and efficacy, and are fully
focused on:
• Driving transformation of instructional practices
to improve and sustain the achievement of all
students, including addressing English language
learners and special population instructional
environments
• Helping implement around the impact of the
Common Core and college and career ready
standards on curriculum, instruction, assessment,
and special populations
• Aiding in the development of educator
effectiveness frameworks and systems to
drive and sustain continuous instructional and
leadership improvement efforts linked to
• student achievement
• Building capacity for growing and sustaining the
pedagogical, cultural, and leadership changes
required in system-wide transformation efforts
• Guiding the development of skills and mindsets
necessitated by the introduction of one-to-one,
mobile, and digital device initiatives that make
personalized learning and the effective use of data
in the classroom a new reality for many educators
and students.
Implementing effective school and educator
improvement initiatives require a partner with deep
experience, thought leadership, and delivery capacity.
Pearson’s high-quality products, services and people
have the proven experience, expertise in technology
tools, and commitment to quality that puts educators
in front of the learning curve and enables them to
support and sustain the transformation and quality
of instruction required for our students to achieve
college and career readiness in a competitive
global economy.
Absolute Priority 1
Featured products:
Schoolnet EDS
School Achievement Services (SAS)

Page: 186 Project Requirements
6 Project Requirements
1. Evaluation Systems
By the 2014-15 school year, RaceToTheTop District
awardees must implement: a teacher evaluation
system; a principal evaluation system; and a
superintendent evaluation.
Questions to discuss with your planning committee:
• What steps would need to happen to implement
teacher, principal, and superintendent evaluation
systems by 2014-15?
• Does our teachers’ union have any particular
concerns that need to be addressed regarding
implementing an evaluation system?
• How will information from the teacher evaluation
system help school leadership teams assess
and improve individual and collective educator
effectiveness and school culture and climate, for
the purpose of continuous school improvement?
• How will the evaluation system data be used to
inform professional development strategies in
subsequent years?
2. College and Career Readiness
RTT-D applicants must be committed to preparing
all students for college or career (pp. 9 of the
application).
• To what extent do our existing instructional
materials and assessments align to college- and
career-ready standards?
• How will this project increase student access to
high-quality digital learning content aligned to
college- and career-ready standards?
• How well does our data system measure student
progress and performance against college- and
career-ready graduation requirements?
• How will the project director and administrators
respond if the formative evaluation shows the
district is not on track to meet college- or career-
readiness goals?
3. Robust Data System
To be eligible to apply for the grant, applicants must
have a robust data system that has an individual
teacher identifier with a teacher-student match
and the capability to provide timely data back to
educators and their supervisors on student growth
(pp. 9-10 of the application).
• To what extent does our existing data system
provide the individual teacher identifier with a
teacher-student match?
• How will this project increase our capability to
provide timely data on student growth?
• What strategies could be employed to further
use data to drive instructional decisions?
• How will this project provide actionable
information to identify optimal learning
approaches that respond to individual student
academic needs and interests?
• To what extent does our data system allow
parents and students to export their information
in an open data?
• Format and to use the data in other electronic
learning systems (e.g., electronic tutors, tools
that make recommendations for additional
learning supports, or software that securely stores
personal records)?
• To what extent do we use interoperable data
systems (e.g., systems that include human
resources data, student information data, budget
data, and instructional improvement system data)?

Page: 19
4. Matching Data
The LEA has the capability to receive or match
student level preschool through 12th grade and
higher education data (pp. 10 of the application).
• To what extent can we match PreK-12 student
data with higher education data?
• How will we use this data to inform district
decisions?
• How will we ensure that any disclosure of, or
access to, personally identifiable information in
student education records complies with the
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act?
• Will the planning committee reconvene regularly
to consider further strategies for using this data?
5. Personalized Student Learning
Participating students must have access to a
variety of high-quality instructional approaches and
environments, including digital learning content
(pp. 42-43 of the application).
• What is our current capability to provide a
personalized sequence of instructional content
and skill development for individual students?
• How will individual student data be used to
determine progress toward mastery of college-
and career-ready standards or graduation
requirements?
• Do our high-need students need certain
accommodations to help ensure that they are
on track, including students with disabilities and
English learners?
• What training and support will be provided to
students to ensure they understand how to use
the tools and resources to track and manage
their learning?
6. Professional Development
RTT-D awardees must provide training and
professional learning communities to support
educators’ capacity to implement personalized
learning environments and meet each student’s
academic needs (pp. 45-46 of the application).
• What tools and resources will this grant
provide to help our educators adapt content
and instruction for students’ optimal learning
approaches?
• What types of professional development have
worked well in the past?
• How will our teacher and principal evaluation
systems provide recommendations, supports,
and interventions?
• Who will be responsible for collecting frequent
feedback on individual and collective effectiveness?
How often? How will the data be used?
• Can we show administrative support such as
allowing protected time for planning, providing
stipends for teachers, and providing sufficient
substitute teachers?
• What innovative strategies could be employed
for personalizing learning for our teachers? (i.e -
create an online forum where teachers can post
lesson plans, ask questions, or read further on
training topics, provide access to a video library of
teachers delivering model lessons, etc).
6 Project Requirements

Page: 20Keys to Successful Learning Environment Projects
Keys to Successful Learning
Environment Projects
There’s no doubt learning from others’ mistakes
can save you a lot of time and resources. Certainly
the same is true when creating personalized and
connected learning environments. Over the past
several years, we’ve followed industry successes and
failures. Below are a few keys we’ve discovered to
successfully avoid common mistakes in designing
personalized learning environments—and more
specifically how to demonstrate your awareness of
these issues in your grant application.
1. Quality Data
Common mistake:Assuming that a data system is
robust enough to supply data that is accurate and up
to date.
Key to success:The quality of your personalized
and connected learning environment will only be
as good as the quality and timeliness of your data.
Evaluating how you collect, cleanse, and validate data
is the essential first part of creating the ideal learning
environment.
Partner with a vendor who has the capability to
go beyond data warehouses and reports; seek a
system that is founded on best practices for cleansing
and correcting data, and that utilizes a commonly
supported data standard.
In your grant application: Describe how you will
disseminate and use formative data.This shows
the reviewer you have thought through potential
obstacles and have the ability to overcome them.
For example, will the planning committee reconvene
throughout the project to adjust the project strategies
based on data gathered?
2.Trust Experience
Common mistake: Becoming the testing ground for
vendors with little or no experience in implementing
strategies for personalized and connected learning
environments.
Key to success: Just choose a vendor who
specializes in the education industry and has proven
personalized learning at scale in other districts and
states is the surest way to know the project will be
executed through completion and done well.
The vendor you choose for this project will be
your partner for several years. Make sure they are a
company you can trust and that they have the staying
power to see you through completion. It may cost a
little more upfront, but it is cheaper than having to
scrap the project and start over.
In your grant application: Do not include information
about specific contractors that may be used for the
proposed project if a grant is awarded. However,
explain what goods/services will be required and
the purpose and relation to the project for each
expected procurement, as well as the estimated cost.
The final selection of contractors should align with
procurement procedures, procurement procedures
that reflect State and local regulations.

Page: 21Keys to Successful Learning Environment Projects
3. Plan Collaboration
Common mistake:Tackling a personalized learning
environment without the help or support from a
variety of stakeholders across your district or state.
Key to success: Large projects depend on a diverse
range of people—and many of the people you will
depend on throughout this project won’t report
to you. Build bridges and collaboration early; first
carefully plan how you will rally support from and
collaborate with all of your stakeholders including: IT,
curriculum and instruction, administration, state DOE,
teachers, parents, students, etc.
In your grant application: Remember to include
students, families, teachers, principals, and collective
bargaining representation in your project’s planning
committee.Your project should also include a plan
for ongoing communication and engagement with
internal and external stakeholders.You can receive
up to 10 points for showing this kind of meaningful
stakeholder engagement and support in the
development of the proposal.
4.Think Ahead
Common mistake: Budgeting resources only
for system implementation, not for long-term
maintenance.
Key to success:A personalized learning environment
requires time and oversight from district personnel.
Implementation of the project requires the most
time and attention, but plan for some oversight on a
permanent ongoing basis. Ideally, the new project can
utilize the same personnel; however, if your project
represents a new field for you, then you may need
new full-time employees beyond the grant period.
In your grant application: Include a budget for three
years after the grant has ended to illustrate how state
and local funds will be coordinated for the project’s
long-term sustainability.You can be awarded up to 10
points for a high-quality plan for sustainability of the
project’s goals after the term of the grant.
5. Simplify, Simplify
Common mistake: Creating endless layers of
approvals and revisions, over-complicating the
system process.
Key to success: In a major reform like implementing
a personalized learning system, you are dealing with
many complexities and multiple sources of input. It
is easy to get stuck in endless rounds and debates,
stalling projects and missing deadlines.The surest
way to combat this is to appoint a committee even
before you submit your grant application and plan
clearly designated roles and processes with thorough
definitions.
In your grant application: Make it clear that your
planning committee has spent adequate time
discussing what made previous reform efforts
successful and what caused others to falter. Identify
processes that have worked well in the past for
your district. Incorporate these lessons learned
into your grant application to demonstrate your
district’s capacity to implement a successful grant
project. Describe how additional lessons-learned in
the implementation will be documented to support
district-wide change beyond the participating schools.

Page: 22Grant RulesThat Could DisqualifyYou
Grant Rules That Could
DisqualifyYou
1. Comment Period
RTT-D applicants must provide its State and Mayor
at least 10 business days to comment on the LEA’s
application.These comments must be submitted as
part as part of the application package.
Don’t wait until the final 10 days to engage your
State and Mayor. Many will be eager to participate
in your grant planning and writing process and
provide support for the project plan. For example,
your State may assist with page 39 of the application,
demonstrating “successful conditions and sufficient
autonomy under State legal, statutory, and regulatory
requirements to implement the personalized learning
environments.”
2. Procurement Requirements
Page 110 of the application instructs applicants not
to include information in their grant applications
about specific contractors that may be used for the
proposed project if a grant is awarded. However,
applicants should still explain what goods/services
will be required and the purpose and relation to the
project for each expected procurement, as well as the
estimated cost.
Grantees are instructed to use their own
procurement procedures which reflect State and local
laws and regulations to select contractors, provided
that those procedures meet standards described
under 34 CFR Parts 74.40 - 74.48 and Part 80.36
in EDGAR.
3. Submission Rules
SUBMISSION DEADLINE - Applications must be
received before 4:30 PM EST, October 30, 2012.
The Department strongly recommends using
overnight mail to deliver the following by this
deadline:
• Original application
• Two additional copies of the application
• The DVD/CD
DVD or CD - RTT-D applicants must submit a
DVD or CD that includes the application response,
including required budget tables, in a searchable
PDF format.You must also include a PDF file of the
signature pages and copies of the electronic budget
spreadsheets. If an applicant submits a file type
other than a .DOC, .DOCX, .RTF, or .PDF format,
the Department will not review that material. See
pages 6-8 of the application for detailed submission
requirements.

Page: 23Top 10Tips For Grant Writers
Top 10 Tips For Grant Writers
1. Stay Informed
Assign someone to become familiar with all
documents posted to the RTT-D Program Page
especially the “Frequently Asked Questions”
document.These documents may be updated
periodically, so visit the site often to stay informed.
2. NameYour Project
Giving your project a title will help distinguish it from
other applications and help the reviewer remember
your project. Be creative—come up with a name that
relates to your project, your district culture, your area,
or your students.
3. Engage Early
Applicants are required to provide its State and
Mayor at least 10 business days to respond to
the grant draft.Also, the grant requires signatures
from the superintendent, school board president,
and president of the local teacher’s union before
submission. Engage each of these people early in
the grant planning/writing process, so any specific
concerns can be addressed quickly.
4. Engage Often
RTT-D applicants will receive up to 10 points for
showing meaningful stakeholder engagement and
support in the development of the proposal. So
include students, families, teachers, principals and
collective bargaining representation in your project’s
planning committee.Your project should also include
a plan for ongoing communication and engagement
with internal and external stakeholders.
To avoid a mad scramble right before the grant
submission, assign someone to gather letters of
support in September. Examples include: from parents
and parent organizations, student organizations, early
learning programs, tribes, the business community, civil
rights organizations, advocacy groups, local civic and
community-based organizations, and institutions of
higher education.
5. Plan for Every Point
With only 15-25 awards nationally, RTT-D will be an
extremely competitive grant. Pages 102-106 of the
application explain how points will be awarded.You’ll
need every point possible in the final award tally, so
be sure to fully address every requirement in every
section.
6.AdvertiseYour Past Success
In case of a scoring tie, applicants’ scores on
“Criterion B1: Demonstrating a clear track record
of success” will be used to break the tie. So provide
plenty of evidence demonstrating a clear record of
success—over the past four years—in advancing
student learning and achievement, and increasing
equity in learning and teaching. It could make-or-break
your chance of award.

Page: 24Top 10Tips For Grant Writers
7. Be Specific
The more details you include, the more your
reviewer will see that you have thoroughly planned
for this grant implementation. Be sure to answer the
following questions in your application:
• Who will be served?
• Who will oversee the project? Who will
implement it day-to-day?
• What specific strategies or program activities
will the project entail? Why did you select the
strategies or activities you are describing?
• What will the project accomplish each year?
What will the project accomplish at the end of
the grant term?
• What will a typical “day in the life of” the
grant look like? What will students, teachers,
administrators, and community members do
each day?
• When will the project begin and end? How much
time each day and week will be devoted to the
project?
8.Tie in to Existing Efforts
If your district has already made strides in technology
integration or personalized learning, be sure to
describe them. Briefly discuss what has been done,
what is still needed, and how the new project
will enhance and support the existing efforts.
For example, discuss past efforts in professional
development for personalized learning that you will
build on with grant-funded training.
9. Get a Review
Ask a qualified person to review the application
(preferably someone who has not worked on the
writing). Give ample time to review the application
and to identify areas that need to be strengthened.
10. Check and Re-check
Before you submit the final application, review the
helpful checklist in the application to make sure
each requirement was followed.The Individual LEA
checklist is on pages 112-113 of the application; the
Consortium checklist is on pages 114-115.

Page: 25MakeYour Applications Stand Out
MakeYour Application Stand Out
Remember the Positive
Although your grant should highlight the challenges
your students and staff face, you should include some
positive information to reassure the reviewer that
your organization has the capacity to successfully
implement the grant project. Some examples might
include:
• High rates of teacher participation in past
• Professional development
• Parent involvement in planning for the grant
project
• Community partnerships
• Past successful efforts related to personalized
learning
• Past successful efforts in other curriculum areas
Be Specific
Be as specific as possible. Instead of using words like,
“frequently,”“often,” or “regularly,” use words such as
“daily,”“weekly,” and “monthly.” Don’t indicate that
“staff” will fulfill a responsibility when you can name a
specific staff position. Instead of stating,“Teachers will
undergo training,” describe specific courses different
staff types will receive, and how many hours they
will entail.
Describe Plans to Use Data
You can greatly strengthen your application by
including an overview of how you will disseminate
and use formative data:
• Who will collect the data?
• When and how will data be shared with teachers
and administrators?
• How will the data be used by teachers to provide
data-driven instruction?
• How will the project director and administrators
respond if the formative evaluation shows you are
not on track to meet goals?
• Will the planning committee reconvene to
consider further strategies?
• Will you provide more frequent staff
collaboration?
• Will you change the professional development
strategies provided?
• Show the reviewer you have thought through
potential obstacles and have the ability to
overcome them.
Illustrate Professional Development
A key aspect of any educational grant project should
be professional development.The strongest grant
applications will include training that is relevant to
the overall project goals and ties into the stated
needs. For example, you might include training
on incorporating technology, strategies for English
language learners, in-depth looks at the targeted
content area, how to administer and interpret
assessments, or strategies for individualizing
instruction.

Page: 26MakeYour Applications Stand Out
Be Detailed
As with the main project description, your
professional development plan should include as
many details as possible. Include an overview of
workshops to be provided, intended outcome goals
or topics to be covered in each workshop, who
will attend the workshops, who will provide the
workshops, and when they will take place. If your
training involves coaches, describe their roles, how
they will be selected, and any special training they
will receive.
Create a Dialogue
Discuss how teachers can share their insights from
trainings and support each other in implementing
new strategies.You might create grade-level groups
that meet weekly or monthly and allow teachers
to collaborate.Administrators, coaches, or other
stakeholders can join teacher meetings as appropriate.
Another option might be to create an online forum
where teachers can post lesson plans, ask questions,
or read further on training topics.
Show Support
Show administrative support by discussing details
such as how administrators will allow protected
time for planning, provide stipends for teachers, and
provide sufficient substitute teachers. Remember
that when administrators attend training alongside
teachers, it shows strong administrative support and
the buy-in of all stakeholders. In addition, include
special training geared toward administrators
as appropriate.

Page: 27Tips For Consortium Applications
Tips For Consortium Applicants
Coordination and communication is critical when
you have people from multiple organizations
designing a single grant application. Here are a few
lessons learned:
Set up File Sharing
An easy way to ensure every member of the planning
committee has access to the most current version of
the grant application is to share the files online.There
are several secure, free options for uploading and
sharing files, such as Dropbox www.Dropbox.com or
Google Drive www.Drive.Google.com.
ShowYour Planning
One way to convince the reviewer you have an
effective plan in place is to reference the thought
and planning behind different decisions.You do not
have to include detailed minutes of the planning
committee meetings in your grant application. Instead,
briefly reference the process the committee used
to evaluate the consortium’s needs and design the
project plan.What criteria did they use to judge
which project idea was best?
Use Titles Consistently
Make sure the proposal consistently uses project titles
throughout the grant.A reviewer might be confused if
one section refers to a “project director” and another
section refers to a “grant manager,” but both are in
reference to the same person.
Show Coordination
Explain how the project leadership team will interact
and how often they will meet to discuss the project
implementation. If multiple schools are involved, it
is even more important to explain the leadership
collaboration effort in order to demonstrate your
capacity to effectively implement your described
grant activities.
Review Consortium Requirements
Review pages 19-23 of the RTT-D application for
grant requirements specific to consortium applicants.
Also see pages 94-100 for details on creating a
Consortium Memorandum of Understanding.

Page: 28SectionTitle Here
For more information, please contact us:
866.202.RTTD (866.202.7883)
GrantExperts@Pearson.com
www.rttdistrictgrant.com

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