Obama Promotes Education to Meet “Our Generation’s Sputnik Moment”

By Kevin Hart Saying that a changing economy and increased global competition had created a “Sputnik moment” for America, President Barack Obama encouraged increased investment in public education with a focus on career and college readiness in his State of the Union address this evening. While acknowledging a need for fiscal discipline and strategies aimed at [...]

New Study: Merit Pay Does Not Boost Student Achievement

By Cynthia McCabe Yet again, researchers have determined that paying teachers a bonus based on student performance does not  improve the achievement of those students. A pay-for-performance study released by Vanderbilt University and the RAND Corporation followed nearly 300 Nashville Public Schools fifth- through eighth-grade teachers from 2007 to 2009. The result? No overall effect [...]

Critics See East Coast, Urban Biases in Race to the Top Awards

By Kevin Hart In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson purchased the vast Louisiana Territory, extending America’s boundaries far west of the Mississippi River. Now, some are wondering whether that information has failed to reach reviewers scoring federal Race to the Top applications, as the list of states that have been awarded funds seems to exhibit an [...]

Did New Jersey Governor Lose $400 Million for Students?

By Kevin Hart In June, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made a public spectacle of tossing aside a federal Race to the Top application that was written with collaboration among state education officials, the New Jersey Education Association, and other key education stakeholders. He publicly insisted that he could write a better application that would [...]

Ravitch Blasts So-Called ‘Reforms’

By Alain Jehlen NEA Friend of Education award winner Diane Ravitch electrified the Representative Assembly Tuesday with an impassioned call for the defense of public education and the teaching profession. “The current ‘education reform’ movement is pushing bad ideas,” she said. “It wants to end tenure and seniority, to silence teachers’ unions, to privatize large [...]

“Race to the Top” v. Jobs Money: Which Offers More?

Grants available through Race to the Top are only a fraction of the money that would be available to cash-strapped schools in another proposal pending in Congress, which would extend the successful state aid program of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Race to the Top Wins Send Mixed Signals

By Cynthia McCabe March 31, 2010 — When the Obama Administration this week awarded $600 million in Race to the Top grants to Delaware and Tennessee it sent a strong signal about the power of collaboration with educators for school districts hoping to achieve real education reform. But even as the Administration was indicating it [...]

Ed Department Announces Race to the Top Finalists

By Cynthia McCabe March 4, 2010 — The U.S. Department of Education today announced that 15 states and the District of Columbia are finalists for $4 billion in competitive school improvement grant money under the new ”Race to the Top” program. Race to the Top grant money is intended to reward innovation in education focusing on four main areas: teacher effectiveness [...]