(From the nytimes.com) Eighteen states and the District of Columbia were named as finalists on Tuesday in the second round of a national competition for $3.4 billion in federal financing to support an overhaul of education policies. The much-anticipated decision by the federal Education Department eliminated almost half of the 35 states that entered the competition, called Race to the Top.

The finalists are Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Carolina.

Winners will be announced in September, and federal officials say they expect 10 to 15 of the finalists to receive financing.

The contest is intended to give financial rewards to states that show a willingness to innovate. States are judged on a scale of zero to 500, with points awarded based on educators’ support for charter schools, for incorporating student performance in teacher evaluations and for intervening in the lowest-performing schools.

“We want to change the accountability system and stop labeling so many schools as failures,” Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, said in Washington in a speech announcing the finalists. “We want to recognize and reward high-achieving and high-growth schools, offering them the carrots and incentives that we know drive reform and progress.”

All the finalists have made teacher quality a high priority, according to Van Schoales, the executive director of Education Reform Now, a policy organization.

Read more here: California, 17 other States and District of Columbia Are Finalists for Education Grants