The U.S. Department of Education announced that North Central Educational Service District is among 61 applications selected as finalists for the Race to the Top-District (RTT-D) competition. The North Central Educational Service District was the lead applicant for a consortia that included 41 districts in Washington, Arkansas and New Mexico. The 2012 RTT-D program will provide close to $400 million to support locally developed plans to personalize learning, directly improve student achievement and educator effectiveness, close achievement gaps, and prepare every student for success in college and careers. The 61 finalists, representing more than 200 school districts, were selected from 372 applications the Department received in November. The department expects to select up to 25 winning applications for four-year awards that will range from 5 million to 40 million dollars, depending on the population of students served by the plan. Winners will be announced on December 31st. The school districts named as finalists are Brewster, Cashmere, Entiat, Lake Chelan, Moses Lake, Nespelem, Oroville, Pateros, Quincy, Soap Lake and Warden.