This afternoon the Obama Administration named eighteen states and the District of Columbia as finalists for Race to the Top dollars. Washington was not a finalist.

Of the 36 states that competed for the dollars, the following states and the District of Columbia were named finalists: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinios, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.

Finalists will make formal, in-person presentations before a judging panel in August. Winners will be named in September.

The U.S. Education Department used a panel of outside judges to score each applicatioon based on 19 criteria, including willingness to open charter schools, efforts to link teacher evaluations to student achievement and dedication to transforming the lowest-performing schools.

During the 2010 supplemental session Washington developed and passed legislation to put into place the necessary structures and policies to support the state’s Race to the Top application. Washington’s application requested $250 million to support these efforts through Race to the Top dollars.