State education agencies have been tasked with an immense productivity challenge--increasing student outcomes on fewer funds for the unforeseeable future. The federal government has expected more from states over the last few decades in improving district and school performance: however, there were minimal gains even when states had more money. The most recent federal effort to jump start state level reforms, the Obama administration's Race to the Top (RTTT) competition, raised the stakes for states to take an active role in a host of reforms, including higher common standards, new data and assessment systems, teacher and leader workforce reforms, and improving the lowest performing schools. Following the lead of the "No Child Left Behind Act" before it, RTTT calls on states to be actively involved in overseeing and promoting district and school performance. The obvious question is, are state education agencies (SEAs) up to the task? This paper discusses four district strategies that can inform an SEA Talent Management Strategy. These are: (1) Assign talent management to a cabinet-level position; (2) Differentiate strategy from transaction; (3) Redesign policies to support flexibility and performance; and (4) Change the culture to focus on performance. (Contains 5 endnotes.)