Race to the Top?

No Child Left Behind became No Test Left Behind. What will Race to the Top become?

For those of you that don't know, the federal government has a new plan for to improve education! It is going to be great! We just know it! (I'm way to young to be this cynical.) Basically, the feds set up a grant program and asked states to apply for mucho dinero in exchange for "their" ideas on improving education. (Whose ideas? Oh, read on. The following quotes are from a New York Times article from today.)

"The creativity and innovation in each of these winning applications is breathtaking,” Mr. Duncan said. (Arne Duncan is the Secretary of Education, or something like that.)

Well, that sounds great. This is what I've been begging for. During our horrendous PD day, we were repeatedly told we needed to do better for our students. And I kept asking, "How?" Give me some examples, some ideas, something concrete. But no help there, just "do better."

"In both rounds, Mr. Duncan selected the winning states after judges assigned a rank to each state’s proposal. The competition was designed to reward what President Obama considers exemplary educational ideas and practice, in hopes that other states will adopt similar practices. The president’s goals include expanding the number and quality of charter schools, updating the way school districts evaluate teachers’ effectiveness, improving student data-tracking systems to help educators know what students have learned and what must be retaught, and turning around thousands of the lowest-performing schools." (my emphasis)

Whoa, back up. What happened to "creativity and innovation?" Now, you're saying the states who wrote grants that reflected Obama's goals were the winners? (By the way, ALL the winners, except Hawaii, were east coast states.) Where the HELL does Obama get off deciding what will be successful? I am so sick of politicians, business people, anyone but educators deciding what will work in education!

I can tell you the number one thing that would help me: less kids! Don't get me wrong; I love my class! Why else would I be doing all the work I've done this off-track? But give me more time with each one and imagine what they could do! GGGRRRRR!!!!