The silver lining is this:
With this issue removed we, as educators, can talk about the other problems in the Race to the Top and maybe people will listen to us. When the public hears "merit pay" I think they assume that we are protecting ourselves and they stop listening. Now, with that off of the table the other issues can be examined. The biggest problem with the Race to the Top is that we don't even know what it is yet. And what we do know is not good. The Secretary of Education (who, remember has never taught) has set out the following criteria:
1. Turn around low performing schools by firing the staff and putting in a new one. Does this sound similar to No Child Left Behind, maybe exactly like NCLB?????
2. No limit to the number of charter schools a district can have. So now parents who are involved can put their kids in a charter school (where parent involvement is required and students can be kicked out) and the neighborhood schools will be left with all of those kids whose parents don't care. Where would you rather teach? This sounds like a great way to help the disadvantaged.
3. Allow parents from low performing schools to send their children to a school of their choice. Again, No Child Left Behind. Now that low performing school is penalized monetarily for their test scores, is losing API money AND has to pay for the bus to send their best students somewhere else.
4. The money that you hear about is divided among all of the states that qualify. Half of it is mandated to set up a new data system to track those test scores and pay a person to oversee the system. The rest of the money (not much) is left for the governor to decide how to spend. You know, the one that just cut every single penny for education that he could get his hands on. Some of it by changing state laws that were voted in?????
This is what we have so far. Much of the criteria for the Race to the Top is either not even written yet, or has not been shared with legislators. So let's enter into something blindly for a few pennies..... The CTA has called it "budget dust".
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