THE WHITE
HOUSE
Office of the Press
Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
April 25,
2010
Public
Voting Begins Today for Race to the
President
Obama to choose national winner from three finalists selected by
public
From 8 a.m. EDT on Monday,
April 26th through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 29, 2010, the
public will have an opportunity to review and rate a three-minute video and
short essay from each of the six high school finalists at http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/Commencement.
President Obama will select the national winner from the three high
schools with the highest average ratings. The Commencement Challenge
winner will be announced on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 and the President will visit
the winning high school to deliver the commencement address later this spring.
“It is clear from
these videos and essays that each of these schools is doing outstanding work to
provide students with the skills and education they need to succeed in college
and in their careers,” said President Obama. “I encourage all Americans to
review and rate these six finalists to help choose the winner of this
competition.”
Each school’s 3-minute
video was produced by its students with support from The Get Schooled Foundation, which includes Viacom and The Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation among its founding partners. The schools also
submitted a 200-word essay highlighting how they best met the criteria of the
Commencement Challenge.
The Commencement Challenge,
launched in late February, invited the nation’s public high schools to submit
applications showing their dedication to providing students with an excellent
education that will prepare them to graduate ready for college and career
choices. Applications were judged based on the schools’ performance, four essay
questions and supplemental data. The six finalists were selected for their
dedication to academic excellence and for showing how they are helping prepare
students to graduate college and
career ready, and prepared to meet the President’s goal of having the highest
proportion of college graduates in the world by
2020.
Finalists:
·
·
Clark
Montessori Junior High and High School (
·
·
Environmental
·
·
Background
on rating and selection process:
Rating
the Finalists
On Monday, April 26, 2010
at 8:00 a.m. EDT, public review and rating of the six high school finalists in
President Obama’s High School Commencement Challenge will begin on http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/Commencement.
A three-minute video and short essay from each school will highlight how it best
satisfies the criteria of the Commencement Challenge. Visitors to
the website can view each finalist’s video and written submission, presented in
random order. For each school, visitors are encouraged to watch the video
and read the essay question before deciding on a rating. Visitors will be
allowed to rate the finalists on a scale of 1-5 (with 1 as the lowest rating and
5 as the highest). After a rating is submitted, the next school’s video
and essay question will be presented for review and rating until all six schools
have been viewed. The ability to rate videos will end at 11:59 p.m. EDT on
Thursday, April 29, 2010.
Rating
Criteria
Voters are encouraged to
rank the finalists based on the criteria of the Commencement Challenge
including:
·
Educational success of the
school as an example for other high schools around the
country;
·
The ability of the school
to engage students in learning and to foster personal responsibility and
academic excellence; and
·
The success of the school
in preparing students to graduate college and career-ready, to help meet
the President’s 2020 goal that America have the highest proportion of college
graduates of any nation in the world.
Determining
the Winner
At the end of the rating
period (April 26, 2010 at 8:00 a.m. EDT to April 29, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EDT),
the three schools with the highest average ratings will be submitted to
President Obama for final selection. The winner of the Commencement
Challenge will be announced on Tuesday, May 4, 2010.