RTT Scoring: Throw out the Russian Judge – Same Results

As you would expect, now that some of the details on the Race to the Top scoring have been released, there is much discussion about some of the outlier judges. Especially in the case of Colorado, the range of scores is significant (there was a difference of 111 points between its high score and low score). This is a huge range given four states were within 10 points of the lowest scoring winner. There were also large discrepancies among the judges in three other states – Kentucky, Arizona, and California.

This was an issue in round 1 as well. I wanted to see if the outcomes would have been different using an alternative method.  What if instead of averaging the 5 judges scores, the Department had used the “Russian judge method” throwing out the high and low score and averaging the other three. This would in theory get rid of the possibility of one judge having an undue impact on the overall outcome. Surprisingly, the same states would have won.  While it would have slightly changed the ordering of the finalists, it would not have impacted the winners and losers. This should provide some reassurance that a random judge did not change the outcome.

 This of course does not eliminate the other criticisms of the process – the weighting of specific sections of the application and the impact that a good grant writer can have on a proposal (Does anyone have the Hawaiian grant writers name because that was money well spent?).

 Here is the run.

Tagged as: Race to the Top