Nine months ago, the USA House of Representatives passed an economic stimulus plan that funds, among many other things, ‘Race to the Top’, an education program to help schools raise standards to internationally competitive levels (which implies that the standards aren’t presently internationally competitive, which is true enough, and demonstrates what decades of teachers’ union stressing seniority rather than achievement can, in fact, achieve).
In genuine Democratic Party tradition, he’s decided that giving $4.35 billion to schools which haven’t been accomplishing will make them accomplish. The president says the goal is to enable American students to compete with ‘folks in Beijing and Bangalore’, implying that they can’t now, which anyone who has seen the numbers of Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and graduate schools in American MSc programs already knew.
‘Race to the Top’ gives more more money than ever to schools ‘committed to real change’ in four reform measures, viz:
a. ’The first measure is whether a state is committed to setting higher standards and better assessments that prepare our children to succeed in the 21st century’, he says, then assures his audience that 48 states already work at ‘internationally competitive standards because these young people are going to be growing up in an international environment where they’re competing not just against kids in Chicago or Los Angeles for jobs, but they’re competing against folks in Beijing and Bangalore’.
b. States must demonstrate commitment to policies encouraging recruitment and retention of effective teachers and principals, and removing teachers (and principals?) who fail to adequately perform (how about adding secretaries of education and presidents to that list, just to set the right example?).
c. The education system must adequately measure student success.
d. Federal officials will examine whether a state is doing anything to overhaul its worst schools. (But how will these officials be chosen? By removing them from the schools and making them full-time government bureaucrats with departments and budgets and turf to defend and expand?). ’We’ll look at whether they’re willing to remake a school from top to bottom, with new leaders and a new way of teaching’, quoth he, perhaps even by replacing a school’s staff or closing a school and sending its students to a better one nearby (watch the teacher unions rally to him on that one).