Race to the Top

Photo: Leila Khaled

President Barack Obama visited James C. Wright School in Madison, WI on November 4, 2009, the first anniversary of his election, where he introduced new education initiatives - The Race to the Top Award.

During his talk with students, the President said, “Over the course of a lifetime, those with a college degree -- and I want the young people here especially to listen to this -- over the course of a lifetime, those with a college degree earn over 60 percent more than those with only a high school diploma -- 60 percent more. Most of the fastest growing jobs require a bachelor's degree or more...The currency of today's economy is knowledge…Meanwhile, African American and Latino students continue to lag behind their White classmates…We are making this America's national mission: improving our schools not in unrealistic ways, not in abstract ways, not in pie-in-the-sky ways -- in concrete ways we are putting our resources behind the kinds of reforms that are going to make a difference..”

Photo: Leila Khaled

The Race to the Top Award makes states compete for part of $4billion in federal funding to improve their schools. But before a state is eligible to compete, they must remove any “fire-wall” law that says student performance should not be a factor when evaluating teachers. Once a state removes any firewall law, they will then be considered based on several requirements:

1. Higher Standards & Better Assessments: “We want to finally get testing right. So it's not about more tests, it's about being smarter about our assessments. It's about measuring not only whether our kids can master the basics, but whether they can solve challenging tasks, do they have the skills like critical thinking and teamwork and entrepreneurship; assessments that don't just give us a snapshot of how a student is doing in a particular subject, but a big picture look at how they're learning overall; and assessments that will help tell us if our kids have the knowledge and the skills to thrive when they graduate.”

2. Effective Teachers & Principals: “We've got to do a better job of rewarding outstanding teachers. And I've got to be honest, we've got to do a better job of moving bad teachers out of the classroom, once they've been given an opportunity to do it right. And that means creating alternate pathways to teaching for talented young people by expanding programs like the one used in Boston, where aspiring teachers work side-by-side with effective mentors in a year-long residency. It means bringing quality teachers into the neighborhoods that need them the most, because right now a lot of what happens is, is that some of the best teachers, as they get seniority, they move on to the places -- the school districts that pay better and, frankly, are easier to teach. And we've got to give them some incentives to stay so that the kids who need the most help are getting some of the best teachers…It means improving instruction in science, technology, reading, math, and ensuring that more women and people of color are doing well in those subjects.”

Photo: Leila Khaled

3. Tracking Progress: “…whether states are tracking the progress of our students and teachers to make sure every child graduates ready for college and a career. It's [a state] going to have to collect information about how students are doing in a particular year and over the course of an academic career, and make this information available to teachers so they can use it to improve the way they teach.”

4. Total Transformation: “There are some schools that are starting in a tough position -- a lot of kids coming from impoverished backgrounds, a lot of kids coming in that may have not gotten the kind of head start that they needed; they start school already behind. And even though there are heroic teachers and principals in many of these schools, the fact is that they need some extra help. 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, replacing a school's principal if it's not working, and at least half its staff...There's always excuses for why these schools can't perform...everybody agrees that there's no excuse for mediocrity.” Metropolis

Photo: Tom Cinoman, Art Teacher at King Preparatory

Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Graders of King College Preparatory depart for a college tour of 26 schools.

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