Dive Brief:

• The Eli & Edythe Broad Foundation has announced it is pausing its annual $1 million education prize due to struggles to find qualified districts, as well as a need to reconsider the process due to changes in the public education system.
• The Broad Prize for Urban Education is given out each year to a large urban district that has made strides in closing the achievement gap with rigorous academics.
• In the past, the foundation asked that the awarded money be used to fund college scholarships for high school seniors.

Dive Insight:

This news was foreshadowed in September, when the foundation decided to break tradition and split the $1 million grand prize between two districts. While the move could have indicated that the foundation was just overwhelmed with so many great choices that it couldn't pick who to give the award to, the reality was far bleaker from its point of view. Last year's two winning districts, Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia and Orange County Public Schools in Florida, were the only two finalists. This was something of a shock, given the fact that the prize typically has five finalists that judges then wheedle down to one winner. As reported in September, the jury was unimpressed with the overall achievement levels of those entering the competition.

As the Broad Foundation expresses dismay at the lack of viable options, it's also worth considering that there are multiple ways to measure achievement beyond tests. It would be fascinating to find out what the achievement levels are based on for this prize. If it's state tests, the decreased performance could be due to new tests aligned to the Common Core.