Read me

There are four specific areas of reform that Race to the Top wants to make:
• 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; and
• Turning around our lowest-achieving schools. (ed.gov)
Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy
Preparing students to succeed in college and the workplace huh? College is becoming a less viable option for many students because of the continually increasing cost of it. Due to decreased state funding at the federal government the U of M has a $100 million cutback. The primary way that U will pay for this will be with increasing tuition again. I’m not sure if building towards a new future in college is effective if there is not a manageable way to pay for college.

Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction
The idea is good and all but it sounds so hard to actually implement. From what I understand about learning each student is different and requires slightly different things to maximize their learning potential. In this way the prospect of creating a system that measure students and then formulates some plan on how to improve instruction seems like a pipe dream.

Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most
Not every classroom can have a teacher like Jamie Escalante to teach troubled youth (watch Stand and Deliver). Also from how I see it, to develop better teachers we would need to improve the conditions in which they obtain their teaching ability. A teacher needs to get a college degree, which is becoming increasingly expensive. Financially speaking teaching is not a good career course.

Turning around our lowest-achieving schools
That is a legitimate concern. Show me a plan on how you’re going to do this. I have yet to see an actual good, proven plan of action. Show me that plan and maybe we can warrant the $500 million Tennessee got.