Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro

Missouri was slow out of the starting blocks, but now has gained its footing in the U.S. Department of Education’s ambitious “Race to the Top” competition. At stake: a share of $4.35 billion in federal stimulus money that will go to states with the most innovative and promising idea for school reforms.

Missouri Education Commissioner Chris L. Nicastro — a former superintendent at Hazelwood and Riverview Gardens schools — this week called a statewide strategy meeting of education leaders in Jefferson City in late November. The meeting will be open to the public.

No state is assured of any award. But win or lose, the process will shine a bright and revealing light on Missouri’s public education system and its capacity to innovate.

“Race to the Top” entries will be based on four criteria:

• Standards and assessment. How have states demonstrated their commitment to improving standards for grades K-through-12 achievement, as well as how well states are measuring student progress. The idea is to match international best practices and make sure that students are ready for college and careers when they graduate from high school.

• Data-supported instruction. How will states create data systems to allow managers, teachers and the public to understand schools’ operations — particularly instruction and instructional support?

• Teachers and leaders. What are the smartest statewide strategies for recruiting, developing, supporting, retaining, and rewarding the best teachers and principals and other education leaders?

• Turnaround. How do states propose to improve the performance of struggling schools and increase the number of high-quality charter schools?

States get extra points if they have made education funding a special priority; have enlisted broad statewide support for educational initiatives; already have achieved significant progress in the four reform areas or have other major education innovations underway.

The competition, organized in two phases, originally had called for entries by Dec. 31. A second phase would then have been opened to states that did not receive funding in the first round.

That Dec. 31 deadline led Ms. Nicastro — who took office in August — to tell legislators that Missouri was off to a late start. She recommended focusing on the second round instead. But delays in Washington erased the Dec. 31 deadline.

The bad news: Stimulus money is not being put to work. The good news: Missouri is back into the game.

School districts should move aggressively; even if their phase one proposals aren’t fully developed by Washington’s new, as-yet-to-be announced deadline, the Education Department has promised to give detailed feedback on whatever is submitted, enabling those states to prepare better for phase two.

The November summit quickly will reveal how far and how fast Missouri public school districts and teachers are willing to move. It also will place Ms. Nicastro’s leadership on high-profile display.

But the Race to the Top also will put Education Secretary Arne Duncan and his department to the test. Federal education officials have no monopoly on the best ideas to reform public education. Genuine innovators must be open to serious challenges to their assumptions. Lots of people have good ideas; the trick is to find them. Four billion dollars is a pretty good incentive.