The green flag has dropped. The competition has begun. But it’s not just any jaunt around the track. States are vying for $4.35 billion in federal education grants, and many of them are serious about winning.
If they want to earn the prize, they have to transform education for the better, said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who announced the start of the Race to the Top on July 24. States have to ratchet up student standards and assessments; find and reward quality educators; install student data systems; and turn around low-performing schools.
But the results may vary depending on how states change their school systems and how much they focus on these four specific areas. And that has educators and education activists questioning what impact the race will have.
“It’s really easy to sit up there at the top and really narrow the focus on what you want to try to accomplish with something like Race to the Top money,” said Pam Moran, the superintendent of Albemarle County Public Schools in Virginia, “and I’m not sure that you’re going to get the kind of entrepreneurial risk taking out there on the table if you get too narrow a definition of what you want to accomplish.”
Duncan has already told states that they will start the contest handicapped if they limit the number of charter schools within their borders. They also might not compete well if they don’t adapt national English and math curriculum standards or link student performance data to teachers.
Failing to address these areas could knock states out of the competition even if they are innovating in other areas.
“They might lose some opportunities for some states to compete that could potentially have the next best educational invention that’s out there,” Moran said, “and I would hate to see that happen.”
Duncan and President Barack Obama have set a sweeping agenda to transform public education, and that’s a good thing, said Jeanne Allen, the president of the Center for Education Reform. They’ve lifted up some states for their progress and have singled out states that show no signs of changing their old, comfortable ways.
"Education reform, however, is neither comfortable nor a race,” Allen said. “It must be achievement-focused and come from a true desire to see America's children succeed on a global scale. Reform that is bought can easily be voted away once the federal coffers run dry.”
Because states are racing to win the prize, they might cause the nation to move quickly toward national standards and tests without allowing enough room or time for debate, said Chad Sansing, who teaches humanities at a charter school in Virginia and blogs about transforming classroom practice at classroots.org. If the nation leaves out debate, education will be too much like the status quo, and teaching will emphasize learning content by rote.
Race to the Top has given the country an opportunity to change the way it assesses kids, he said, and that should involve providing authentic learning experiences and engagement that’s relevant in the real world.
