Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s “Race to the Top” program – a multi-billion dollar sweepstakes that pushes state school systems to compete for extra federal dollars based on how much reform they can institute – has made Duncan one of the most powerful U.S. Schools Chiefs in the 29 year history of the cabinet level position.
Lawmakers were loath to give up so much power to the White House, and teachers unions hated the idea of money distribution becoming a contest, rather than being controlled by a formula, but with states cash starved and almost $100 billion extra dollars on the table, willingness to play along with Duncan’s “race” has been surprisingly wide spread.
“States were willing to change their policies based on a gamble,” Brenda Welburn , the executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education told McClatchy Newspapers. “I didn’t think they would invest the level of energy they really did.”
But invest they did – lifting limits on charter schools, tying teacher ratings to standardized test scores and signing on to the Common Core Standards, a nation wide curriculum movement that sets English and Math benchmarks through 12th grade.
The first round of winners were announced in March – $500 million to Tennessee and $100 million to Delaware. Round two is already in play and more states than ever are racing to compete.
But is all this racing good for our kids? This strategy is similar to one that Duncan put in place when he was running Chicago schools – to mixed results by most accounts. Whether he can manage to make it a successful strategy on a national level remains to be seen.
