Education Reform 2010: The Future Is Now | League of Education Voters

Quotable

Race To The Top represents an "unprecedented opportunity for significant federal money to improve student achievement and give our kids a great future." - Bill Gates Sr.

Race To The Top

Race to the Top (R2T) is a federal fund that provides competitive grants to encourage and reward states that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform.

Race to the Top asks states to adopt reforms in four areas:

• Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy

• Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction

• Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most

• Turning around our lowest-achieving schools

2010 Legislation

The Excellent Schools Now coalition, which includes LEV, is working with policymakers to make five priority changes to the proposed Race to the Top legislation, Senate Bill 6696 and House Bills 3059, 3035, and 3038. These changes will improve Washington’s education system and our competitiveness to win a Race to the Top grant.

• Five Priorities For Changes to Proposed Race to the Top Legislation

• Assessment of Governor’s Race to the Top Legislation

• Race to the Top Talking Points

Why It's Important

Doing the right thing always matters
For those of you counting at home – and by my count, from some of the comments, at least a few of you are following along – this legislative session is officially one week old. Not to beat a dead drum, but there’s a lot at stake here, so each week counts and counts big. One big take away this week is the Governor’s intention to introduce an education reform legislation that addresses the state’s shortcomings in the federal “Race to the Top” competition. In previous episodes of my waxing on, some of you have raised questions and downright consternation about whether this is right-headed. Some of you have said that the money isn’t enough to make a difference. Others have had specific policy issues. Why, when we have school districts in financial disarray, would we get “sidetracked” by Race 2TT?

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What Washington Is Doing

Gov: Legislation needed to compete for R2T
Gov. Gregoire held a press conference to formally announce Washington’s plan to become competitive for a Race to the Top (R2T) grant.

The plan includes adopting legislation that would do the following:

• Allow the state to intervene and oversee schools where student achievement is persistently low.

• Revise teacher and principal evaluations to focus on instruction and use multiple measures, including student academic performance.

• Extend probationary period for teachers to 3 years, and allow districts to grant continuing contracts after 2 years.

• Allow non-institutions of higher education to offer teacher and principal preparation programs.

• Encourage increased parent involvement and input.

• Provide for adoption of Common Core Standards.

• Encourage local dollars to be used to close the achievement gap and increase STEM instruction. (e.g. TRI pay, changing the I from Incentives to Innovation).

In Depth

In a series of blog posts, LEV's policy analyst Heather Cope sorts through the final R2T guidelines to determine what Washington’s chances are for scoring a piece of the pie. Here's a detailed run-through of the guidelines, as well as some analysis on where Washington stands.