Educational Crisis: Race to the Top

By: Deborah Cahill

Here’s another installment in the ‘Race to the Top’ feud. Some states, including California, are being punished by withholding much needed funds because we do not buy into this much flawed program. When are they going to realize that this is not an answer to the nation’s educational crisis. The following articles actually came from AOL and I thought they were worth sharing. Even if you have your child in private school, the plight of public schools is the plight of all us who live here. As goes your school system, so goes your area real estate.

“The U.S. Dept. of Education “Race to the Top” program aims to improve public education by targeting four specific areas and thereby advancing reform. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is the mastermind behind this incentive program that rewards states that implement certain education measures and standards (usually standardized test scores in math and English), and punishes states that refuse to adhere to these reform measures.

Duncan is in charge of allocating $4.3 billion in education funds. States must participate in the “Race to the Top” competition if they want some of that money. For example, Tennessee and Delaware both agreed to be held to the testing standards outlined by the program, so they were awarded federal funds to help improve their public school systems. States that decline to be part of the program will not see any federal dollars for education.”

Fighting back

“On April 6, BAMN held a press conference on the “Mobilization Against ‘Race to the Top” at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. The press conference was attended by local educators and activists, as well as representatives from several of the contingents who plan to attend the April 10th March on Washington to Defend Public Education from California, Michigan, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania.

These five states share a serious crisis in their public school systems. Plagued by financial concerns, these states are leaders in teacher firings, the growth of charter schools, and the use of standardized test scores as the only measuring stick of a student’s potential. Stern says: “It is going to be the welfare zone of education. It will just be condemning; education used to be the great leveler, and now with privatization, the competition pits everyone against each other and destroys communities.”