We weren't the only ones scratching our heads Thursday after the Obama Administration released a list of state "finalists" for $4.35 billion in Race to the Top education grants. Some of the Administration's biggest boosters also seemed perplexed.

Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform said that New York's appearance on the list of 16 finalists was "baffling." Andrew Rotherham, who writes the left-leaning Eduwonk blog, noted that Ohio's presence on the list "is not a great sign." New York has a law in place that prevents student test scores from influencing teacher tenure decisions. Ohio allows teachers unions to decide when student data can be used to evaluate instructors. Both states cap the number of charter schools that are allowed to operate.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has repeatedly indicated that such policies would hurt a state's chances of receiving a grant, not make it a finalist. And he's gone out of his way to praise states that have removed barriers to school choice and using student records to identify good teachers. There were 41 applicants in total, and no one was surprised that reformist states like Florida, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Louisiana made the cut. But so did Kentucky, which doesn't even have a charter law.

The Education Department says that state applications were graded using a complex point system and without direct input from the Secretary, though Mr. Duncan ultimately will decide next month which states receive a grant. No doubt it's just coincidence that 10 of the 16 finalists, including politically important Ohio, have a Democratic governor. The eleventh, Washington, D.C., is also run by a Democrat.

Cheers, jeers and finger-pointing followed the federal government's announcement Thursday (March 4) of the 15 states named as finalists in a $4.35 billion grant competition to revamp the nation's schools. But what can't be debated is that the Race to the Top program has attracted most states' interest.

"The fact that you had thousands of education advocates and officials all over the country at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time this morning (March 4) looking on the Internet to see which states were finalists shows they've created a sense of enthusiasm for reform with this," Joe Williams, head of Democrats for Education Reform, told The Washington Post. "It's hard to remember a time when states were comparing themselves to each other."

The District of Columbia and 15 states made the cut: Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Forty states applied.

The finalists each are eligible for a slice of the $4.35 billion, which was authorized as part of the federal stimulus package and will go to states that enact reforms that the Obama administration supports, including expanding charter schools, holding teachers more accountable and making greater use of data to chart progress. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has broad leverage to choose the states that he deems best. The winners will be announced in April, and Duncan said Thursday that fewer than 10 are likely to win, with funding of up to $700 million per state, depending on its size.

(From The Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2010)

By NEIL KING JR. and BARBARA MARTINEZ

The Obama administration picked 15 states and the District of Columbia as finalists in a heated competition for extra federal education funds to shake up underperforming schools.

The states that made the cut in the $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition were Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Under the program, states stand to garner hundreds of millions of dollars each, depending on their size, at a time when many local education budgets face deep funding shortfalls.

The sheer number of finalists surprised outside observers, who had predicted the administration would impose more stringent standards. The list included a number of states whose applications were considered weak.

A total of 40 states and the District of Columbia submitted applications in January for the first round of funding, with a second round set for summer.

The administration defended the selection of the 16 finalists, saying that all states whose applications cleared a pre-set score automatically advanced to the next round.

By GAIL ROBINSON

To the surprise of many, New York State is one of 15 states (and the District of Columbia) that made the cut in the competition for federal Race to the Top education funds. New York now gets to compete for a share of $4 billion pie -- and could get as much as $700 million by some estimates.

The state, though, shouldn't start spending the money yet. Education secretary Arne Duncan still must select the winners.

Charter school proponents had despaired of their chances after the state legislature refused to raise the cap on the number of privately run, publicly financed charter schools in the state, given the Obama administration's enthusiasm for charters. At the time, Mayor Michael Bloomberg likened the legislature's action (or more properly, inaction) to "playing " Russian roulette with our children's futures." And Joe Williams of the pro-charter Democrats for Education Reform called it "the governing equivalent of puking up a bunch of Jagermeister on the sidewalks of Albany."

By STACY TEICHER KHADAROO

States competing for billions of dollars in education stimulus funding found out today whether they're still in the running for the "Race to the Top."

Out of 41 applications, 15 states and the District of Columbia have made the cut so far. They've been invited to Washington to make the case that they will be the best trailblazers for innovation and reform in K-12 public schools.

The competition has been a catalyst "to dramatically reshape America's educational system ... prompting states to think deeply about how to improve the way we prepare our students for success in a competitive 21st century economy," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in announcing the first round of finalists.

The finalists are: Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

A high bar?

The US Department of Education will announce winners for the grants - totaling $4.35 billion - starting in April, with a second round of applications being considered this summer. The bar is set high and the number of winners in this first round is expected to be small, in the single digits, Secretary Duncan said. President Obama has proposed an additional $1.35 billion in his budget for a third round of such grants.

(From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 4, 2010)

By ERIN RICHARDS and AMY HETZNER

Wisconsin's failure to make it past the first cut in the national competition for $4.35 billion to improve schools launched a volley of finger-pointing Thursday between the governor, legislators and interest groups.

Gov. Jim Doyle criticized the state Legislature for not acting on reform measures the governor wanted in the state's application for the federal Race to the Top grant competition, namely allowing mayoral control of Milwaukee Public Schools and giving the state Department of Public Instruction enhanced powers to intervene in struggling schools.

He also criticized the MPS board for inaction on critical issues, including its inability to come up with its own reform agenda for drastically improving educational outcomes for children.

"Today's announcement should be a wake-up call to many," Doyle said Thursday. "U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has made it clear: The federal government will provide significant resources to states that are serious about reform. Milwaukee needs clear, consistent, accountable leadership focused on reform."

Wisconsin's loss, paired with Doyle's comments, reignited a war of words between Democratic legislative factions in Madison that have been paralyzed about how to address academic failures in the state's largest school district. Supporters for mayoral control said they could still act in the regular session, but the idea has long lacked enough votes to pass.

Republicans also capitalized on the news to criticize Democrats in control of the Legislature and governor's mansion for being too close to the state teachers union and unwilling to embrace education reform.

By GREG TOPPO

New York, NY, February 22, 2010 - Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), a national advocacy organization that seeks to reorient the education debate within the Democratic Party, commends President Obama in the wake of his announced proposal to overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The president delivered a stern, but necessary, message to the governors of all 50 states today that failing to enact and implement sufficiently rigorous education standards in their states would result in a drop in federal funding through Title I, under his proposed plan.
 
"President Obama has taken a bold step to correct one of the weakest aspects of No Child Left Behind," said Joe Williams, DFER's executive director. "In requiring states to adopt 'college or career ready' standards in order to receive Title I funding, the president is sending a message that academic rigor is not just a nice bonus in our educational system - it's a requirement. No longer will the federal government throw away good money on failed state education policies. Simply put, states must actively work toward the best interests of our nation's students or face a terrible consequence."
 
DFER further commends President Obama for seeking additional funding for the administration's successful Race to the Top initiative as part of the NCLB reform. Race to the Top's first round catalyzed serious policy innovation in a number of states, with 40 states and the District of Columbia submitting applications for funds to be distributed on the basis of serious reform proposals.
 
Continued Williams, "The beauty of Race to the Top is that it rewards those states that are putting actionable reform proposals to work, and encourages every state to get serious about fixing their broken education systems. The era of rewarding mediocrity is over."

By MICHELE MCNEIL

Congress plans to kick-start the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this week with the first in a series of hearings in a key House committee, where members pledge a "bipartisan, open, and transparent" process in rewriting the version of the law enacted under President George W. Bush.

The finish line remains a long way off in a Congress bitterly divided over issues such as health care, hurtling toward the 2010 midterm elections, and still without a specific proposal from the Obama administration about how it would revise the ESEA, currently called the No Child Left Behind Act.

Still, in announcing the hearings last week, leading Democrats and Republicans on the House Education and Labor Committee declared that the NCLB act is "a law that we all agree is in need of major reform," and that the panel would "work to ensure an excellent education is available to every student in America."

The statement was issued by Reps. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the committee; John Kline of Minnesota, its ranking Republican; Dale E. Kildee, D-Mich., the chairman of the subcommittee on elementary and secondary education; and Michael N. Castle of Delaware, the senior Republican on that subcommittee.

On January 12, in a widely publicized speech, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten called for "A New Path Forward" for the nation's second largest teachers union - one that would embrace more rigorous systems of teacher evaluation that would "include student outcomes."
 
We don't question President Weingarten's intent or sincerity, nor do we doubt her assertion that ineffective teachers are a minority of the teaching profession.
 
But far too often in the past, promises by union leaders for real reform over the airwaves have been squarely contradicted by the positions advanced by union officials in political backrooms. Both national unions have steadfastly treated teaching, despite the high stakes for children and communities, as a right rather than a privilege.
 
The first test of AFT's commitment to the principles it outlined last month will begin tonight in Houston, and play out over the days and weeks ahead.
 
In a vote this evening, the Houston Board of Education is expected to approve a policy put forth by HISD President Terry Grier that would make student achievement a significant factor in teacher evaluations and create a tiered system where ineffective teachers would first be given the opportunity and resources to improve, but which would ultimately terminate their contracts if they continue to underperform.
 
Recent statistics show that right now, termination of teacher contracts in Houston is a rare occurrence.  Last year, in a district where 100,000 students were reading below grade level. only 36 teachers, a miniscule .3% (yes, point 3 percent) of a total teaching force of 12,000 were let go for performance reasons. 
 
Over the last five years only 140 Houston teachers were dismissed for performance reasons, while 240 were fired "mostly" for criminal activity. Could criminal misconduct, sexual abuse, workplace intoxication, and job abandonment really be almost twice as prevalent as poor job performance? It seems about as unlikely as it would be tragic.
 
During recent school board elections, where the biggest issue of contention was the use of student performance data in teacher evaluation, the AFT flew in staff and members from outside of both Houston and Texas in opposition to reform oriented candidates. Beginning tonight, the AFT can signal that it truly has embarked on a "New Path Forward" by standing with the Superintendent and the School Board rather than, as it had done in the past, actively working against it.  The whole school reform world is watching.

By NICK ANDERSON

For a school reform derby with $4 billion at stake, Virginia is proposing experiments with teacher performance pay, a modest expansion of charter schools and other steps in line with the Obama administration's education agenda.

By ALYSON KLEIN

It's a warning that's etched in the mind of every state and local education policymaker: Beware the funding cliff.

States and school districts are already bracing for the budget crunch that is almost certain to hit when the up to $100 billion in education aid made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act runs out starting later this year.

Aware that the fiscal picture in most states will likely remain bleak for the next few years, state and local leaders are trying to pinpoint new revenue sources for education, and are seeking ways to trim spending to blunt the impact of the stimulus aid's end--the so-called "funding cliff."

Since much of the funding under the economic-stimulus measure enacted by Congress a year ago was used to fill budget holes at the local level, many students, teachers, and administrators may not have been aware of just how much of a difference the money made in classrooms, said Jack Jennings, the president of the Center on Education Policy. His research organization, based in Washington, has been tracking the stimulus funds.

But educators are almost certain to feel the pinch once the money runs out.

"The UCLA Civil Rights Project seemingly wants to block minority parents from choosing to enroll their children in better schools simply because it feels those schools aren't white enough. What's up with that?"   

By ALYSON KLEIN

Despite a pledge to hold down spending on most domestic programs, President Barack Obama tonight called for greater investment in public schools in his State of the Union address as part of a push to renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The president's fiscal year 2011 budget, slated to be released Monday, will seek a 6.2 percent increase to the U.S. Department of Education's budget, including up to $4 billion more for K-12 education. The department's discretionary budget for fiscal 2010 is roughly $63.7 billion.

A large piece of the increase, $1.35 billion, would be aimed at extending beyond this year the $4 billion in economic-stimulus program Race to the Top grants and opening up the competition--now limited to states--to school districts. The president highlighted the Race to the Top saying it had "broken through the stalemate between left and right," and pledged to expand the reform priorities of that competition--among them turning around failing schools and increasing the supply of effective teachers--to all 50 states.

"The idea here is simple," he said. "Instead of rewarding failure, we only reward success. Instead of funding the status quo, we only invest in reform­--reform that raises student achievement, inspires students to excel in math and science, and turns around failing schools that steal the future of too many young Americans, from rural communities to inner cities."