The main consequences of Race to the Top are chaos, disruption, demoralization, and teachers exiting their profession. Judged by results, the program is not just a failure, it is a menace to children, teachers, and education.
But that’s not the way the DOE describes their $4.3 billion boondoggle.
This is what Peter Greene says.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on McBlog.
Here’s some Ohio numbers for RttT.
It makes absolutely no sense to me. For example, my entire district got 120k and one Toledo charter school got 101k.
I don’t think 120k over 4 years would even cover the additional (remedial) costs of kids going back and forth between cybercharters and the public schools here.
http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/School-Improvement/Race-to-the-Top/444-LEAs-ODE-Web-Site.pdf.aspx
Most RttT applications were likely so peppered with contracts that the money barely made it out of state capitals.
I did two full days of community discussion on our local schools this week. It’s amazing how many new ed reform mandates they have, just this year.
School grading system, A-F (replaces the old grading system) teacher grading system, Third Grade Reading Guarantee and of course the CC.
That’s with millions of cuts in state funding. Next year they lose state (personal) property tax funding, because it’s been zeroed.
No one could do all these things (well) with less funding at the same time. No one. They’re drowning. My sense was they’ve been in this reform system for so long (more than a decade now) that they don’t even recognize how ludicrous the demands sound to an “outsider”.
They need more forums to explain this to the public. The members of the “business community” who were in attendance got it immediately.
Menace is the best word for it.
Newspapers are finally covering the charter sector that Arne Duncan and John Kasich insisted on expanding, so that’s exciting. We’re learning more every day:
Ed reformers are outraged that the school governance model for the charter sector that they designed and promoted is a disaster:
“It’s totally unacceptable that any type of sponsorship shop should be set up like that,” said Kathryn Mullen Upton, vice president for sponsorship with the pro-charter Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.
Maybe it isn’t such a great idea to kick all oversight for charter schools up to the state level after all, huh? Maybe you want the regulator close to the publicly-funded entity? Maybe “relinquishing” public funds to a private entity isn’t such a great idea?
“Sponsors” in Ohio get a kickback of 3% from the charter funding, so of course they open more and more schools. I have no idea what they do for that 3%.
Every time you hear a Fordham Institute staffer quoted delivering another finger-wagging lecture to public schools, think about the charter governance system they designed in Ohio, and run in the other direction.
They can’t even run their own schools, let alone yours.
http://www.dispatch.com//content/stories/local/2014/03/25/police-probing-charter-schools-that-closed-shortly-after-opening.html
Here’s the RttT reports for individual states.
https://www.rtt-apr.us/
Click past the federal-state press release language and go to the actual report.
https://www.rtt-apr.us/state/ohio/2012-2013/sod_1
Ohio’s a good example because we have every single item on the ed reform lobbyist wish list. Ohio ed reform lawmakers are apparently incapable of saying “no” to any lobbyist that wanders in the door. They seem to believe this somehow makes them “innovators” or wildly creative risk-takers. My take would be it makes them irresponsible and reckless and people who lack discipline and common sense, especially as we’re talking about public funds and children, not a “start up”, but obviously I’m a stodgy status-quo’er.
Anyway! You may read the results of standardized testing and draw your own conclusions. Looks like a wash to me. Some went slightly up and some went slightly down.
And then here’s a more comprehensive site for the state reports, with updates.
Again, you’ll have to wade thru the happy talk and pom pom waving and read your state report.
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html
You forgot parents…it’s a huge menace to us too!
440 new teachers in RI. Another of Gist’s fantasies.
Reminds me of a NYTimes editorial praising Bloomberg for bringing stability to NYC schools! Incredible statement considering all the reorganizations, school closures, new school closures after a few years, ATR’s, constant pressure to “U” rate teachers, student transportation disasters, etc. I guess having one chancellor for many years despite turmoil throughout the system qualifies as having stability.
In 2009, while the re-authorization of mayoral control was being debated, Randi Weingarten also had the chutzpah to claim that it was a force for stability in the schools.
By the time he was finished, Bloomberg had single-handedly closed over 120 public schools, and virtually destroyed the neighborhood high schools.
Stability? Sure, Randi, whatever you say…
It’s unfortunate that this site does not go after the failures of union leaders. RW abetted all the catastrophic policies created by Obama/Duncan, Bloomberg/Klein, Gates, Broad, Waltons, etc.
We have this on a state level, too. “It’s all good”.
http://missourieducationwatchdog.com/dese-releases-press-release-on-common-core-senate-hearing/
I am getting a lot of emails from parents who are pushing back against this type of propaganda. We also have a video of the hearing that will show viewers this was not a friendly atmosphere for the education establishment.
Peter Greene ends his piece with the following:
“When I read pieces like this (and it seems like I read many of them), it makes me think that it must just be exhausting to work at the DOE. Just spinning and spinning all day, like one of those clown acts with all the balancing spinning plates, only these plates are cracked and chipped and laden with baloney. Ms. Gast’s photo shows her as fresh and scrubbed and like she just graduated from Strategic Communications School; I hope this job doesn’t take too much out of her.”
Now consider the recent statement by the CEO of The Princeton Review, Deborah Dollinger, on the recent change to the SAT and its relationship to ACT:
[start quote]
Ultimately, to put the whole matter into perspective, this is nothing more than a Coke versus Pepsi battle. In this case Pepsi (the ACT) has taken market leadership from Coke (the SAT), and Coke has responded. When viewed through that lens, these changes make a lot of business sense. From The Princeton Review’s point of view, the College Board has never designed a test that we couldn’t help students crack.”
[end quote]
Link: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-princeton-review-comments-on-the-sat–changes-announced-by-the-college-board-on-march-5-249031981.html
I am not exaggerating when asserting that the US DOE piece is just another example of commercial hype, an informercial for $tudent $ucce$$, the latest entry in what the Secretary of Education and his edubureaucrats feel is the battle for market share between “their side,” Pepsi [charters/privatization] and “their competitors,” Coke [public schools].
Facts? Logic? Honesty? Responsibility? Still waiting for something besides drivel-driven distraction to come out of the US DOE?
With Arne Duncan heading the joint you have a long wait ahead of you if you’re hoping for straight answers and not nonsense: “You have a ready wit. Tell me when it’s ready.” [Henny Youngman]
😎