Teachers to Obama: We’re Ready to Work with You
Last week, President Obama unveiled a $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” fund to help states finance improvements in public education. The final rules for the program won’t be released until late August, and that’s when the AFT will be able to fully judge the initiative, says AFT President Randi Weingarten.
We are going to use our own four criteria when reviewing the department’s plan. They are: Does it help kids? Is it fair and helpful to educators? Is it transparent? And does it require shared responsibility? If the answer is “yes” for each, then we have a real chance of improving the quality of teaching and learning and raising student achievement.
The Race to the Top fund will provide grants to encourage and reward states for plans in four core educational reform areas aimed at improving teacher and principal quality, academic standards, data collection and turning around low-performing schools. The money is part of the nearly $100 billion set aside for education in the economic recovery package passed earlier this year.
