So now that the Colorado State Board of Education has signed on to Common Core Standards, the question is what are the state’s chances to win up to $175 million in federal funds from Race to the Top (RTTT) Round 2? Thanks to Ed News Colorado’s Daily Churn, I learned that the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has given Colorado’s latest RTTT proposal a green light (thanks in no small part to SB 191). So what does that mean?

If recent history is our guide, then we should go back to March and look at NCTQ’s forecast from the first round of RTTT. Delaware, Rhode Island and Tennessee were the only three states to receive green lights; Delaware and Tennessee ended up the only two states to come home with the money.

This time around there figure to be plenty more winners. So the fact that Colorado is one of only three states (Louisiana and Rhode Island are the others) plus Washington, D.C., to receive the coveted green light means our state is a virtual shoo-in for the federal dollars. What kind of valuable, long-term positive impacts would Colorado experience in the highly likely scenario of being an RTTT winner? Now there’s an open question.