By Tom
It looks like Arne Duncan decided to soften his approach to turning around "failing schools." Up until just recently, states that wanted to compete for Race to the Top funds had to take an aggressive approach to fixing their lowest performing schools. They had to either replace the principal and half the teachers, reopen the school as a charter school or simply close the school down.
But with the release of the new guidelines states are permitted to use a "softer approach" and still remain eligible to compete for the RTTT grants.
What's the softer approach? Providing professional development to the faculty and changes to the curriculum. Wow. Imagine that.
And who can we thank for this enlightened approach? Ironically, the charter schools themselves. Much to Duncan's surprise, they showed little interest in taking over these failing schools. Apparently they would much prefer to start from scratch than to take over a school in peril.
This is good news for Washington. It will make it easier for our state, which outlaws charter schools and doesn't have a particularly aggressive model for taking over failing schools, to compete for the funds.
And we really need the money.
Got it and your point makes sense. Thank you.
I ask “how much” in order to understand what WA teachers will do (produce; give) differently in exchange for more money.
Federal government grant proposal readers (yes, I’ve been one) know these two common budgeting practices used by educators (who cannot say how much it costs for a student to learn /a/): (1) (play “one-up”)only ask for money to do what educators already know how to do and know the results to expect, but don’t do it and don’t get those results; and (2) (use versions of “guilt” such as “should, because”)to ask for more than “needed” to yield proposed results, spend it all and then claim educators need more. Both of these practices appear self-serving to educators, not necessarily to students.
On a different note, I wish you and your loved ones a happy Thanksgiving.
Hi Bob!
Our state legislature passed HB 2261 last seesion, which, among other things, defined what the state educational system should look like, including the “measured academic performances” AKA state standards. The legislature also acknowledged that the current fiscal conditions would not permit them to fully fund the educational system as they had defined it. It’s become increasingly clear that next year’s fiscal conditions are likely to be even worse than this year’s. That’s why I think we really need to pursue the RTTT money.
Respectfully, how much money do you need and what measured academic performance increases will it purchase?