Scandal at Churchill High!
Is there something about "private public schools" that breeds this sort of behavior? -Mike Petrilli
Is there something about "private public schools" that breeds this sort of behavior? -Mike Petrilli
The news that 15 states plus the District of Columbia qualified as finalists in the first round of the "Race to the Top" is sure to anger many reformers, and for good reas
A perceptive reader pointed this out to me. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation originally provided 15 states with $250,000 planning grants to help them prepare their Race to the Top applications. After a firestorm of controversy, Gates made similar grants available to the other states. But note this: Original Gates States:
I've written previously about Maryland's curiously disappointing participation in the Race to the Top.
The news is worse than I expected. The Archdiocese of Baltimore is closing 13 schools, including 10 in the city of Baltimore. That represents more than 20 percent of the system's schools.
The US Department of Education had the opportunity today to send a clear signal--that the Race to the Top is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that very good wouldn't be good enough, that only the biggest and boldest plans would merit consideration. Instead, the administration accepted 15 states and Washington, DC--nearly 1/3 of all applicants--as finalists.
If you're not sold that Duncan's RTTT "high high bar" wasn't so mountainous after all, here's NEA prez Dennis Van Roekel's take on the announcement:
???In a way, UTLA is the dog that caught the car.?? I think they are going to be under tremendous pressure both from t heir own members who came up with these plans, and from the district, to follow through on this.??? ???Charles Kerchner, Claremont Graduate University professor