Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind:
Are these initiatives worth our time and effort?
President Bush and President Obama have both declared a need
for better school systems. For Bush, the
solution is No Child Left
Behind. Obama’s solution is Race to the Top. Both of these solutions leverage federal
funding to help improve standards/assessments, data/accountability, effective
teachers/principals, and ways of turning around low-performing schools.
The core of these two policies differentiates the
directionality of the leaders. Race to
the Top is a grant allocated to only a few states based on a point system. No Child Left Behind is an act that federally
mandates changes in school systems.
No Child Left Behind
In 2001, Bush’s school reform act was put in place. No Child Left Behind utilizes Title I
funding. Title I grant funding is
allocated for schools with socio-economically disadvantaged students. No Child Left Behind was enacted as a
mechanism to ensure standards are met to receive Title I funding.
Failure to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), results in
school systems flowing through a systemic process associated with school
turnaround. Years 2-4 focus on
improvements of the system, year 5 corrective action, and year 6 restructuring
of the school system. States are
mandated to follow up in order to continue receive funding from the federal
government. Figure 3, below, shows Georgia's funding stream based upon No Child Left Behind.
Race to the Top
Obama’s initiative builds off from Bush’s No Child Left
Behind Act. Race to the Top was enacted
in 2009. The grant is dedicated to
states that show innovative educational practices. The grants were scored on a 500-point system
broken into various factors. Each of the
states were graded and then given money based on their capacity. Minnesota has been the grateful
recipient of some of the Race to the Top funding. The Minnesota application is available
online, here.
Race to the Top is based in the belief is that “the best
ideas come from leaders at the local level” as Arne Duncan stated. Race to the Top is innovative in nature. Once the innovation proves itself through
evaluation, the practices are scaled to larger audiences. Currently, Obama is utilizing No Child Left
Behind to create greater reforms. One
example is granting more
money for states that include teacher evaluations based upon performance.
Does it work?
Yet, through all of these education reforms, student
achievement has not seen drastic changes.
Many people are beginning to revolt against standardized testing and are
opting out. This Washington
Post article elaborates the quantity and magnitude of those opposing both
No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top’s standardized tests.
Many politicians, professionals, parents, and students alike
are aware of the educational problems facing our nation. The challenge is knowing if we are able to fix the
structure of education or if we will need a complete renewal? Here is a RSA Animate for thought--
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