Education

Digging Through States’ Race to Top Bids

January 27, 2010 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

From My Notebook:

Colleague Stephen Sawchuk and I have a story up on edweek.org that takes a closer look at some states’ Race to the Top applications, particularly the details that might make them stand out from their competitors. You’ll find interesting highlights from Illinois, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Louisiana.

But we couldn’t possibly shoehorn all the worthwhile elements of every state’s proposal into the story, so some notable tidbits didn’t make it out of my notes. Here are few worth highlighting:

In California, parents will play a direct role in triggering the restructuring of low-performing schools that otherwise may not be tapped for an overhaul by education leaders. A new law allows parents to force districts to undertake one of the four turnaround models outlined in the Race to the Top rules if at least 50 percent of them sign a petition. And their influence doesn’t stop there. They will also have a say in which turnaround option they want for the school. Opponents, including the powerful California Teachers Association, say the law amounts to a giveaway to charter schools, given the close ties between the Parent Revolution--which created and lobbied for the parent trigger--is closely aligned with Green Dot Public Schools, a high-profile Los Angeles network of charter high schools. But, at least initially, the trigger will be limited to 75 schools statewide.

Rhode Island turned in some aggressive proposals around teacher assignment (See pages 115-116 in the application). Once the state establishes a new evaluation system that links growth in student achievement to teacher performance, students who are taught in one year by an instructor who earns an “ineffective” rating must be assigned to a teacher with an “effective” rating the next year. And by the 2012-13 school year, districts will be banned from assigning any teachers who are not rated “effective” or “highly effective” to high-poverty, high-minority, or low-performing schools.

And in Massachusetts, lawmakers passed major education legislation that should certainly make its application get some notice, especially for the stronger authority it gives to the state education commissioner to intervene in low-performing schools when local district leaders and their union counterparts can’t agree on issues such as replacing teachers and lengthening the school day.

A few of us here at EdWeek are going to keep slogging through these applications, looking for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Feel free to direct us.

A version of this news article first appeared in the State EdWatch blog.

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: March 13, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read