Educational reforms have occurred throughout the history of public education. In 2009, the federal Race to the Top initiative was born and included many educational reform models. To have these reform models gain traction at the state level, a call was made by the U.S. Department of Education (Race to the Top Program Executive Summary, 2009) for states to submit applications to receive funding to address areas needing change. States were required to address student standards and assessments, reform teacher evaluation systems to include student performance as a measure, implement merit or performance-based pay calculations to reward teachers for their positive effects on student achievement, and turn around consistently low-performing schools. This study, through a document analysis of the applications submitted, asked what are the similarities and differences of applications in states awarded the Race to the Top grant regarding value-added models, teacher performance pay, teacher retention, teacher recruitment, teacher development, and the measurement of teacher effectiveness? Five major findings were concluded: (1) While the Race to the Top professional development requirement placed a strong emphasis on the importance of professional development for teachers and school leaders, many of the applications were lacking in best practices for professional development, such as inclusion of professional learning communities (PLCs); (2) Performance pay, also known as pay for performance or merit pay, was included in the Race to the Top applications as a reform initiative to link teacher compensation to teacher performance; (3) The inclusion of longitudinal data in the Race to the Top application was crucial in providing a comprehensive evaluation of the educational system in grades PreK-Post-Secondary; (4) The emphasis on teacher evaluations within the Race to the Top applications was primarily focused on feedback and growth rather than performance scores; and (5) Teacher recruitment and retention surfaced as a critical component in the applications to achieve the goals of Race to the Top education reforms. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]