Why Is Race to the Top Rewarding States With Low Proficiency Standards?
Education Next’s Paul Peterson and Chester E. Finn, Jr. talk this week (May 6) about why Tennessee and Delaware, which received very low scores in a new evaluation of state proficiency standards, nonetheless were the big winners of round 1 of Race to the Top.
For more on this topic, see “State Standards Rising in Reading but Not in Math,” by Paul Peterson and Carlos Xabel Lastra-Anadon, from the Summer 2010 issue of Education Next.
Peterson and Finn’s previous podcasts:
Do U.S. Students Spend Enough Time Learning? (4/21/10)
Florida Governor Vetoes School Reform Bill (4/15/10)
Will NCLB be reauthorized this year? (3/23/10)
The New Normal for Federal Education Spending (3/4/10)
Choice and Residential Segregation (2/23/10)
Studies Find No Effects (1/7/10)
Focus of School Reform Shifting to Teachers (12/17/09)
Are Middle Schools or Middle Schoolers the Problem? (12/10/09)
Biggest Spender in Politics: The NEA (12/4/09)
Saving Jobs or Stimulating Reform? (11/24/09)
Election Postmortem (11/19/09)
Will Congress Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut? (11/4/09)
Voters Choose Neighborhood Schools over Socioeconomic Diversity (10/29/09)
The Nobel Committee Isn’t the Only One Giving Speculative Prizes (10/22/09)
Will Michelle Rhee Triumph? (10/14/09)
Will the Federal Role in Education Double? (10/8/09)
Charter Schools Narrow Achievement Gaps in New York City (10/1/09)
What Congress Is Not Working On (9/24/09)
Charter Schools, Unions, and Linking Teachers with Student Achievement Data (9/17/09)
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I think Race to the Top should be viewed not as a reward for past performance, but as a carrot to change. Why shouldn’t Tennessee get more money if it means they’ll use it to get better? Massachusetts obviously doesn’t need as much help in improving, so why reward them with money that could be of more use in a state that’s worse off? You can read my Race to the Top thoughts at theeducationstandard.wordpress.com
[...] South Carolina with an astounding 65.2% drop in its standards in those six years. In the report and in a podcast with Peterson and Chester Finn Jr., the success of Tennessee and Delaware in Race to the Top is [...]