Illinois is one of 16 finalists in the U.S. Department of Education's 'Race to the Top'.

Under the $4.35 billion federal grant program, the state is asking for $510 million.

There are four main goals states are evaluated on, to determine whether they'll receive the money.

First, the state is being asked to set tougher academic standards. It also has to show teacher effectiveness and compensation for that work, efforts to turn around struggling schools and finally, improvement on data collection within schools.

Superintendent Michael Houselog with Belvidere schools says, his district has been working on many of these tasks for years now, but he says having federal money would make the process a lot easier.

Houselog says, "We're going to be doing that regardless, lets just take the money from the federal government as opposed to those very valuable dollars that we have here locally and from the state."

Meanwhile, Rockford's superintendent says this effort wouldn't be possible without cooperation from community leadership.

Dr. LaVonne Sheffield says, "It's the historic partnerships with our unions that allowed this to happen. If the REA had not come to the table and agreed to participate, we wouldn't be here. "

Sheffield also says the only way to turn around struggling schools, in District 205's case, the high schools, is to improve instruction. She says many teachers don't get much training before they get a job.

"Our teachers and our leaders need effective professional development, they need on the ground professional development, someone in their room to model effective instructional strategies. You graduate from college in education and they dump you in a classroom and if you're lucky, you get assistance," Dr. Sheffield explains.

Among the 16 finalists, several states could be picked to split the grant money. If Illinois is chosen, more than a dozen state school districts would share the funds.

As part of the next phase in the 'Race to the Top,' a delegation from Illinois will go to Washington DC to interview with federal officials.

Winners will be announced April 1st.