Dear Colleague, Congratulations on your selection as a finalist in the Race to the Top grant competition! As you know, you are asked to bring a team of up to five individuals to Washington, DC to present on your Race to the Top application the week of March 15, 2010. Your State will be assigned a presentation time on either March 16 or 17. Your presentation may be up to 30 minutes and will be followed by a question and answer period for the balance of your 90 minute session. We would like you to join us for a conference call tomorrow during which we will provide additional information on the Tier 2 process. This call is scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, March 5 at 2:00pm EST. The call-in information is as follows: Call-In #: 1-888-790-3727 Passcode: ******* (given verbally) While you are welcome to include in the call individuals from your State who will participate in preparing your Tier 2 presentation, please keep in mind that this call is closed to the public and will be relevant only to finalist States. Attached you will find the document we will be discussing; please print and have it with you during the call. Shortly, we will be emailing you individually to confirm the scheduled time for your presentation. This email will also include information on available hotels in the Washington area. Please note that the U.S. Department of Education will not schedule travel for your State team or reimburse your State for travel costs. We know that you have many questions about this process. We hope that the call tomorrow will help you prepare for this exciting next step in the competition. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at racetothetop@ed.gov or 202-205-3775. Sincerely, The Race to the Top Team