Anthony Cody reports that teachers in Sacramento and Fresno rejected participation in Race to the Top.
They reject the program’s heavy emphasis on testing and basing their evaluation on test scores.
Cody wonders why President Obama insists that Race to the Top is not “top down.” Of course, it is top down. It reflects what the Obama administration wants, not what teachers believe is right for their students.
Why does President Obama says he opposes “teach to the test” when his signature program compels teachers to teach to the test?
Why does President Obama claim that Race to the Top is “working” and getting results?
It is not working, it is being imposed. And it has no results other than demoralized teachers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is why I have difficulty calling Obama a Democrat.
How about Plutocrats for ed reform one of whose board members gave Rahm a million to put out a post strike video ? These aren’t democrats, I think the term is neoliberals.
Someday someone is going to have to explain the term “neoliberal” to me. What’s liberal about it? How is it any different than “neoconservatism”? Is it just because it’s embraced by Democrats who are supposedly liberal (at least, that’s the brush they get tarred with by Republicans who are quietly cheering them on)? Frankly, I have the same reaction to that word as I do to education “reform”. Accepting the word itself implies that we agree with the connotation that there’s anything liberal about neoliberalism.
I hope someone explains the word neoliberal. I think of it as someone who says they are a Democrat but advocates rightwing policies.
Diane
From Wiki: “Neoliberalism is a label for economic liberalizations, free trade and open markets. Neoliberalism supports the privatization of nationalized industries, deregulation, and enhancing the role of the private sector in modern society. It is commonly informed by neoclassical or Austrian economics. The term neoliberal today is often used as a general condemnation of economic liberalization policies and advocates.[1][2] Neoliberalism shares many concepts with mainstream schools of economic thought.” and :
“Corrupted Neoliberalism
The rise of neoliberalism in the 1970s as a practical system of government saw it implemented in various forms across the world. In some cases, the result was not anything that could be identified as neoliberalism, often with catastrophic results for the poor. This has resulted in many on the left claiming that this is a deliberate goal of neoliberalism,[62] while those on the right defend the original goals of neoliberalism and insist otherwise, an argument that rages to this day, rendering this section highly controversial. This section attempts to provide an unbiased overview of this discussion, focusing on all the forms of neoliberalism that are not in any way neoliberal, but which have come to be associated with it, as well as the reasons for why this has happened.
My teacher’s union in Ohio refused to sign on. The money was minimal and the requirements were ridiculous!
My understanding is that local teacher unions can’t “reject” RTT funds. However, state wide teacher unions can refuse to accept RTT funds if they do not agree to make changes to their evaluation systems with state government. If I remember correctly, Hawaii State Teachers Union rejected RTT and will not have to deal with all the nonsense involved. Does anybody have more info on the actual legality of rejecting RTT funds?
I think that might be true if the state is the one awarded the grant. In the latest round, districts can apply. So it would make sense that the local union could reject the funds. Local union leaders will be asked in the next couple of week to sign on to these grants if they haven’t already.
In addition to the intimidation and demoralization of teachers, Race to the Top is having its intended results: the destabilization, fragmentation and privatization of the public schools.
In their public utterances on education, Obama and Duncan are frauds, but the education reform complex is being managed by very intelligent and far seeking -venal, but far-seeking – people. They know exactly what they are doing, and more often than not are getting their way.
I am encouraging everyone I know to drop using the word “reformer” or even deformer as the entire premise is based on a lie. They are ed privatizers, period.
I will try that.
Diane
How about “deforming privateers”? Or we could just call them avaricious bastards and be done with it!
What is truly needed is too radical, even for a more centrist leader (far left socialist, if you watch FOX). Despite the failures of the “free market”, there is reluctance to adequately strengthen our middle class foundation and we instead promote the swelling 1% tic on the ass of our country as evidence of our exceptionalism. We should be restructuring our economy and instituting wage structures that would ensure “earning” your wealth wasn’t as simple as calling your accountant to have him “cook the books” or socking it away off-shore. Local employers, truly small businesses, community members, schools and teachers have done more than reformers ever could. Obama has not paid the respect due to the profession, and he hasn’t won my vote.
This is the reason why no one listens to all the sound reasons presented so far.
“No rational argument will have a rational effect on a man who does not want to adopt a rational attitude.” ~ Karl R. Popper
Just blogged about this.
Diane
I’ll bet that Michelle Rheeject and her alledged child molester husband, Kevin Johnson, the Mayor, are really upset with the wonderful teachers in their city of residence.
Cheers for the Sacramento and Fresno teachers.
How can we get more people, those who are not certain of their stance on current educational issues, to fully understand the implications of damaging policies?
George Lakoff, linguistics professor, has done extensive research on the careful use of framing language and syntax used successfully by politicians to get votes or, in this case, support for privatizing interests.
“People often don’t accept a truth if it doesn’t fit into a frame or world view that they
already understand. Progressives have to create the frame and then supply facts that fill it. (Facts alone will not do.) Progressives also believe that people act in their rational self-interest. Consequently, progressives don’t understand why poor people vote for Bush when it makes their situation so much worse. The reason is simple: people don’t vote their self-interest, they vote their identity. They vote for the people that they identify with. It is a mistake to believe that people vote only in their self-interest.”
Click to access Don’t%20Think%20of%20an%20Elephant!.pdf
https://www.facebook.com/pages/George-Lakoff-Official/165643503477608?ref=stream
Another commenter on one of these threads summed it up by saying that even the poorest American thinks he’s one lottery ticket away from vast millions. Therefore, people do vote their perceived self-interest as future millionaires rather than their actual, current self-interest.
“And it has no results other than demoralized teachers.”
That’s one result, and the others are: children not receiving the education they deserve;
childhood stolen from early (Kindergarten?!) and constant test-taking; public schools
closed for no good reason; public schools being cash-starved as per dollars spent on tests and test prep. materials & privatization, leading to students being treated like widgets; students deprived of critical thinking activities, which will eventually lead to our young people not questioning authority (the oligarchical 1% society we are becoming…and on and on…ad nauseum.
NCLB was the wretched beginning, but Race to the Top is America’s Armageddon.
Race to the Top is America’s Armageddon
We would have a productive conversation regarding when the public education doomsday clock moved relative to midnight.
What events moved the minute hand forward? Back? How did teachers react? What coverage appeared in union publications?
Teachers seem entirely out of the loop regarding the “What just happened” discussions. (These discussions might be occurring in the mens room nearest the ed committee conference room in your state capital.)
We might not even have a shared vocabulary:
Rent seeking?
Regulatory capture?
Maladaptive response?
Cognitive capture?
The frustrating thing about RttT is that THE TESTS HAVEN’T BEEN WRITTEN YET. As we transition over to the Common Core, we teachers keep hearing, “This may been on the test”. I decided to teach the children this year and not the test. I am cutting back on the worksheets. I am trying to remember how I taught before NCLB and it is slowly coming back to me. If my scores go down, so be it. I need to live with myself.
RttT is the airplane-being-built-as-it-flies-through-the-air.
Legislators in my state deliberately met after midnight during the last session to call a vote without informing anyone so that teachers could be locked out of the process/discussion.