September, 2009
Dear Colleague,
In the Race to the Top Fund, the U.S. Department of Education is dangling a $4 billion carrot over schools across the United States, and more money for education is certainly a good thing. The No Child Left Behind Act provides us all with a recent example of a program heavy on mandates but very light on necessary funding.
We have big concerns about the stick accompanying this $4 billion dollar carrot, however. To win the grants, states may be pushed to base teacher evaluations and pay on standardized tests, to create more charter schools, and to impose more arbitrary sanctions on struggling schools.
For too long, school reform has meant no child left untested and no teacher left unblamed. We sincerely hope that it’s not too late for Race to the Top to open a new chapter in the school reform movement, one that values the professionalism of teachers and embraces a whole-community model for change.
The LFT submitted comments on RACE to the Top to the Department of Education in which we shared our state’s experience with “reform” after Hurricane Katrina. We reminded Secretary Duncan of radical changes that included firing over 7,500 teachers and school employees, and the virtual privatization of many schools that were improving before the storm. Please click here to read our presentation to the department.
The points we made in our comments to the department are that unintended consequences can come as a result of poorly thought out reforms, and that all students have a right to be taught by high-quality, effective teachers in well-funded schools with strong academic leadership. A two-tiered system with charter schools for a few students and inadequately funded public schools for everyone else would cheat our children.
Looking at education over the long term requires a bolder, broader approach that holds entire communities responsible for the education of their children. Evaluations should measure the contributions of parents, administrators and school boards to student success, not just test scores.
Broadened further, measurement should include the roles played by health care, juvenile justice, higher education and all the other elements of community that have an impact on the growth and development of an individual student.
If we broaden our understanding as well as our goals, we will win the Race to the Top.
Sincerely yours,
Steve Monaghan
Read LFT's press release about Race to the Top: Please click here.
Read LFT's submission on Race to the Top funds: Please click here.
Read AFT's comments on Race to the Top: Please click here.