Race To the Top and Randy Dorn

This Tacoma News Tribune article had a letter from Randy Dorn about the Race to the Top money:

From: Randy I. Dorn, State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Re: Race to the Top money

A recent editorial by The Everett Herald as well as a report by the League of Education Voters might have created some confusion that I want to clear up.

Washington will be applying for Race to the Top money.
The exact requirements needed to receive the money have yet to be announced. But, as I’ve said many times before, we are confident about our chances based on what we’ve heard from the U.S. Department of Education.

While Washington voters have said no to charter schools, this state features many schools that are similar to the charter school philosophy, such as Aviation High School in Des Moines and the Tacoma School of The Arts. We have a system in National Board Certification that is more popular every year and rewards teachers for additional work. Our new data system tracks students by year and by class, our standards are top-notch and our assessment system is one just a dozen fully approved by the federal government.

Second, there is no penalty for applying. We’ve been told that all applications will be reviewed carefully, and applicants will be informed of where they fell short if they don’t receive money in the first round.

The application is due in the fall. When we have more details, we’ll make them available to you.

Comments

Sahila said…
“Race for the Top” is about privatising public education - turning it into a ‘for profit’ corporate business model - did you notice the rhetoric about 'competition'? from Duncan and Obama - that will reap huge benefits for some very large companies…

As in all things, if you want to really know what’s going on “follow the money”… see who the loudest and most influential voices calling for change are, track back to their other activities and you’ll notice that they arent at all disinterested parties - they have a vested interest in changing the face of public education and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the welfare of our children…

We have big business influencing and profiting from our military activities - Haliburton etc; we have big business (insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals etc) pushing against health care reform because they know their profits will be cut; now we have big business trying to influence and push public education - worth billions of dollars in profit - into the private sector…
8/24/09, 2:38 PM
Sahila said…
I heard a piece on KUOW news this evening as I was driving home - The LA Unified School District Board has given the go-ahead for a private group to run almost half of LA's schools - 50 new schools and 200 'failing' schools... The Superintendent gets to pick the successful bid...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/school-board-approves-plan-to-open-up-schools-to-outsiders.html

How far away is LA?????
8/25/09, 8:52 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

MEETING CANCELED - Hey Kids, A Meeting with Three(!) Seattle Schools Board Directors

 Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting.  In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance.  - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Read more