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The U.S. Department of Education is seeking 50 to 80 outside judges to help award $4 billion in grants under the economic-stimulus program鈥攋ob openings that demand both education policy expertise and a detached interest in the high-stakes education reform competition.

Finding such 鈥渄isinterested superstars,鈥� as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has called them, could be difficult, given the scope, scale, and money attached to the competition, observers say.

Race to the Top grant applications, which will be submitted by states starting later this year, will touch on most corners of the education policy arena, from teacher quality and data systems to turnaround strategies for struggling schools and common academic standards. Those are also the four education reform 鈥渁ssurances鈥� in the economic-stimulus package.

That means teachers鈥� unions and colleges of education will have a stake in who wins the grants鈥攁nd a keen interest in who judges the applications. So will school districts, charter school advocates, and state education officials.

The potential for such conflicts of interest reminds many observers of the awards process for President George W. Bush鈥檚 $1 billion-a-year Reading First program, which was marred by charges that independent experts who reviewed grant applications had inappropriate interests in the selections.

Winners and Losers

Further raising the stakes for the Race to the Top, Mr. Duncan has made it clear he will award grants only to a select group of states; he hasn鈥檛 said how many. In fact, there could be more losers than winners in the $4 billion race, said Joe Williams, the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, a New York City-based political action committee.

鈥淎nd if there are going to be more losers than winners, there are going to be a lot more people than usual trying to dissect why certain decisions were made,鈥� Mr. Williams said.

Besides the obvious people who have a direct stake in the competition, there are others who are indirectly involved, further limiting the potential pool.

For example, education experts are being hired by states as consultants to help develop their applications. Nonprofit groups, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are also helping statesapply. And advocacy groups, such as the Education Trust and the American Association of School Administrators, have officially registered their complaints鈥攐r compliments鈥攁s the department works on final Race to the Top regulations. (鈥淐riteria Seen as Too Restrictive in Quest for 鈥楻ace to Top鈥� Funds,鈥� Sept. 16, 2009.)

Given how many people are trying to get a piece of the 鈥渂iggest lottery in education history,鈥� it will be hard to find qualified and impartial reviewers, said Christopher T. Cross, the chairman of Cross & Joftus, an education consulting company based in Washington and California. He oversaw competitive grantmaking by the Education Department as assistant secretary for educational research and improvement under President George H.W. Bush.

that the final roster includes a high percentage of people who do not have a historical context to understand what is really innovative,鈥� Mr. Cross said. That could result in 鈥渨hat is merely an attempt to use lot of bells and whistles to create proposals that look interesting but have little chance of producing improvement in schools.鈥�

Crucial Role

Although Education Department officials will have the final say, Mr. Duncan has said he will deem the reviewers鈥� decisions to be strong recommendations.

To that end, the department has placed online a seeking applicants and nominations. The deadline to apply is Sept. 30. So far, the department has received about 200 names.In his letter asking for applicants, Mr. Duncan said he鈥檚 looking for the nation鈥檚 鈥渕ost distinguished educators, policymakers, and scholars.鈥� More specifically, the job qualifications ask that applicants have education policy and reform experience, including a 鈥渂road understanding鈥� of all four education assurances outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and 鈥渟pecific expertise鈥� in at least one of them.

The department also wants reviewers to have knowledge of effective operational and management structures at the state and district levels and experience managing or evaluating grants, according to the job description.

鈥淭here will be very, very few who have all of the characteristics they would ideally want,鈥� said Andy Smarick, a department official under former Secretary Margaret Spellings and an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. 鈥淭he department would be wise to make this as bipartisan and nonideological as possible. It will save them headaches in the future.鈥�

The department makes clear that it will vet potential peer reviewers for conflicts of interest, which will include any financial stake applicants have in a state鈥檚 Race to the Top Fund application.

But questions remain about what conflict of interest would disqualify an applicant, who will ultimately select the peer reviewers, how they will be trained, and how exactly the review process for state applications will work. Justin Hamilton, a spokesman for the department, said staff members are still working on the peerreview process and haven鈥檛 made decisions on the details.

鈥淲e will ensure that the peer-review process is fair, objective, and thoroughly vetted, and we will involve very knowledgeable and fair peer reviewers,鈥� he said.

Close Scrutiny

Questions about Education Department grant awards in recent years illustrate just how closely watched, and important, such peer-review panels can be.

In 2004, the department got in hot water when it went against peer-review recommendations in awarding millions of dollars from a federal grant program to expand public school choice to a project involving an online education company founded by former Secretary of Education William J. Bennett. (鈥淔ederal Grant Involving Bennett鈥檚 K12 Inc. Questioned,鈥� July 28, 2004.)

And in 2006, during a high-profile review of how the department handled Reading First grants, the department鈥檚 inspector general indicated officials may have intended to 鈥渟tack鈥� the panels of grant reviewers with those who favored a particular teaching methodology. Moreover, the inspector general鈥檚 report said the department鈥檚 method of screening the panelists for conflicts of interest was ineffective. (鈥淔ederal Review of Reading First Identifies Serious Problems,鈥� Sept. 22, 2006.)

鈥淭his was the big issue with Reading First, and nobody got it at the time. There鈥檚 a certain amount of d茅j脿 vu with Race to the Top,鈥� said Kate Walsh, the president of the Washington-based National Council on Teacher Quality. 鈥淚t鈥檚 impossible to find anybody with any valuable expertise that doesn鈥檛 have any ostensible conflict of interest, or appearance of conflict.鈥�

Ms. Walsh noted that anyone from her own organization would have a conflict because she鈥檚 worked on Race to the Top preparations with Colorado and is doing work with Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no such thing as unbiased,鈥� she said.