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Now, as the public, you can rate all six finalist public schools who are competing for President Obama’s visit as the prize. The national winner will be addressed by the President soon. The famous Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge was initiated by the President early this year in which many public schools participated.

Schools had to submit applications with written essays and video. The aim is to prove how dedicated and committed they are in helping their students successfully complete their college education and embark on their career.

The six public schools selected as finalists by the Obama administration include –

•    Environmental Charter High School, California
•    Denver School of Science and Technology, Colorado
•    Clark Montessori Junior High and High school, Ohio
•    Blue Valley Northwest High School, Kansas
•    MAST Academy, Florida
•    Kalamazoo Central High School, Michigan

If you want to rate these schools, you must visit the website http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/Commencement, and view the video posted there and also go through the essays written by the finalists before voting and rating them keeping in mind these few aspects –

The success of the school in the field of education that could act as a guideline and inspiration for other high schools in the country

The schools ability to foster academic excellence and personal responsibility and also getting students to effectively learn

School’s success in get students to be absolutely career ready, preparing them to graduate college and helping them achieve the 2020 goal of the president which is to ensure that America has the highest rate of college graduation as compared to all other countries in the world.

You may not really be able to gauge the effectiveness of the school with just a three minute video made by students and a short little essay. But it is high time we started somewhere and nothing can be gained without trying.

Voting will end on Thursday and depending on the rating, the top three schools will be picked by Obama. On May 4th, which is a Tuesday, the winner will be announced and this announcement will be followed by the presidential graduation visit.

This contest that is named after the $4 billion Race to the Top program. Race to the Top program has seen great response and states are fiercely contesting for the federal education funds. Decisions regarding the reform measures are taken by Arne Duncan, the Education Secretary and his aides.

The first round of this program saw Duncan selecting Delaware and Tennessee as winners. He said that these two states had the best applications. However, there is scepticism based on a recent study that shows that the criteria for selection are arbitrary.

Whatever it is, it is very important to continue with powerful programs like this to keep education in focus and also keep schools and colleges on their feet. Educational institutions must be given a constant motivation to push for reforms and work towards effectively achieving the President’s goal of producing the maximum number of graduates in the world by the year 2020.