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UPDATED, 8/11/2011, 1:10 pm Thursday morning in Washington DC -- the only city that could host such a vacuous, inane event -- the Thomas B. Fordham Institute is hosting (the hopefully one-off) "Education Reform Idol." The event has nothing to do with recognizing states that get the best results for children or those that have achieved demonstrated results from education policies over time -- but simply those that have passed pet reforms over the past year. It purports to determine which state is the "reformiest" (I kid you not) with the only contenders being Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin and the only judges being: (1) a representative of the pro-privatization Walton (WalMart) Family Foundation; (2) the Walton-funded, public education hater Jeanne Allen; and (3) the "Fox News honorary Juan Williams chair" provided to the out-voted Richard Lee Colvin from Education Sector. With the deck stacked like that, Illinois is out of the running im...

Illinois is sure to be disappointed if it continues to move forward with a private voucher program ( SB 2494 ) for Chicago Public Schools. Just ask Wisconsin-- and Milwaukee . Clearly, the Chicago Tribune editorial board ( 'Liberate the kids' ), which is cheering the process on, has not done its homework, not checked its sources, and not looked to its neighbor to the north for guidance. Or it is simply drinking the Kool Aid mixed by Voucher Inc.: And there's evidence that vouchers improve public schools. A 2009 report by The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice examined 17 studies on the impact of voucher programs. Sixteen studies found that vouchers improved student achievement in public schools; one study found they had no positive or negative impact. In other words, competition works. There is also plentiful evidence that vouchers do NOT improve public schools, including the on-going evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program -- the longest-stan...

As a follow up to my post last September ( "Teacher Residency Requirements" ), there appears to be legislative movement in both Illinois and Wisconsin to eliminate such requirements in Chicago and Milwaukee, respectively. Both cities require teachers to be residents in order to be employed in the public schools. From District 299: The Chicago Schools Blog (Alexander Russo), 3/8/2010: It's an age-old question for Chicago, which is one of few big cities to require teachers to live inside the city limits. Teachers complain about it. Once in a while they get caught living outside the city and have to move or leave their jobs. The recession in making jobs scarcer and the city more expensive. And now State Sen. Steans has introduced language [Residency Bill SB 3522 (Amendment 1)] that, with the support of the CTU, would remove that requirement. From Wisconsin State Journal editorial , 3/10/2010: Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature and the state's big teachers ...

Today is the deadline for state applications in the first round of the Race to the Top grant competition. The easy prognostication to make is that the vast majority of the 39 states (and DC) that apply will have their initial applications rejected and all will reapply in round two, due in June. Most will fail then, too. Despite the publicly released application scoring rubric , it is difficult to know exactly how the application scoring will play out, based upon who the reviewers are, whether Gates Foundation consultant funding helped certain states frame more compelling applications, stated or implicit pressures to fund only a certain number of applications (especially in round one), the importance lent to district and union buy-in from an implementation and sustainability perspective, and the strength of big-state applications versus small-state applications. To the latter point, there's ONLY $4 billion to be spread around, and the largest states could suck up as much as $700 mi...

Round-one applications are due on January 19, 2010... CALIFORNIA Bay Area schools are Racing to the Top ( Contra Costa Times ) ILLINOIS 70 percent of districts on board ( Peoria Journal Star ) IOWA RttT bills on the Legislature's agenda today ( Des Moines Register Iowa Politics blog) Seven largest school districts oppose Governor's plans ( Des Moines Register ) KENTUCKY Governor signs low-performing schools bill ( Louisville Courier-Journal ) MASSACHUSETTS Sweeping education bill passes legislature ( Boston Globe ) NEW YORK Unions opposing charter cap lift ( New York Post ) RHODE ISLAND No agreement between state, teachers' unions ( Providence Journal ) TENNESSEE Bill advances in House, headed for Senate vote ( The Tennessean ) TEXAS Editorial: Governor Perry is all 'rhetoric' ( Houston Chronicle ) Op-ed: Perry's 'smokescreen' ( The Dallas Morning News blog) UTAH Three fourths of school districts on board ( The Salt Lake Tribune ) WASHINGTO...

COLORADO RttT bill is fast-tracked ( Denver Post ) CONNECTICUT 75 school districts on board ( New Haven Register ) ILLINOIS Legislation revamps teacher evaluations; governor's signature expected ( The State Journal-Register ) INDIANA 93% of school districts join Race (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette ) IOWA Senate approves RttT bill ( Des Moines Register ) KENTUCKY Governor signs low-performing schools bill ( Louisville Courier-Journal ) MASSACHUSETTS School bill ready for final vote ( Boston Globe ) MICHIGAN State teacher's union won't sign onto application ( The Detroit News ) MINNESOTA Over 250 districts, charter schools on board ( Star News ) NEBRASKA Governor: State's $122 million application includes 'Virtual High School' ( Omaha World-Herald ) OREGON 112 school districts on board ( Statesman Journal ) PENNSYLVANIA Requiring local school board and union sign-off ( Education Week Teacher Beat) Editorial: Flexibility should accompany call for innovati...

NATIONAL AFT chief vows to revise teacher-dismissal process ( Education Week ) Strong applications versus stakeholder support? (Flypaper) RttT fire drills ignore the fact that 52% 0f state application is based on PAST reform and achievement (Eduflack) ALABAMA Governor Riley links charters, Race chances ( Dothan Eagle ) FLORIDA 53 of 67 school districts on board; only 5 with union backing ( Orlando Sentinel School Zone blog) GEORGIA Governor Purdue pitches performance pay ( Atlanta Journal Constitution blog) ILLINOIS Bill to strengthen educator evaluations passes state House ( The State Journal-Register ) IOWA Legislation needed to boost state's competitiveness ( Des Moines Register ) Governor Culver presses for RttT legislation in State of the State ( Des Moines Register blog) Bill passes first legislative hurdle ( Des Moines Register blog) KENTUCKY House passes low-performing schools bill ( Louisville Courier-Journal ) LOUISIANA State board endorses application ( T...

Playing catch up following the holidays and the birth of our second child ... here are the major Race to the Top updates a week before round 1 applications are due on January 19th... NATIONAL 39 States and DC to apply in round one (U.S. Department of Education) 'Race To Top' Viewed as Template for a New ESEA ( Education Week ) 'Race To Top' Driving Policy Action Across States ( Education Week ) Two State Unions Balking at 'Race To Top' Plans ( Education Week ) CALIFORNIA Assembly passes reform bill ( Sacramento Bee ) Governor signs bill to improve state eligibility in Race; opposed by teachers' unions ( Los Angeles Times ) Governor seeks to ease teacher firings ( Los Angeles Times ) COLORADO Summary of state plan ( INDenver Times ) FLORIDA Unions: State RttT plan is 'fatally flawed' ( Orlando Sentinel ) Editorial: Unions must not walk ( Miami Herald ) Editorial: Racing to the top ( Orlando Sentinel ) ILLINOIS Editorial: State legislature t...

NATIONAL Creative RttT Lawmaking (Politics K-12) RttT Hopefuls: Clear The Week of March 15, 2010 (Politics K-12) States Struggle With Pk-20 Data ( Education Week ) CALIFORNIA State senate passes RttT reform bill (AP) Bill addresses failing schools ( San Francisco Chronicle ) Final bill could be passed "before the holidays" ( Los Angeles Times ) Assembly Speaker: Race is 'on track' ( San Jose Mercury News ) FLORIDA Teachers union says 'no' to state plan (Teacher Beat) Unions balking on Race ( Orlando Sentinel ) Florida Dems cry foul ( St. Petersburg Times - The Gradebook blog) 63 of 67 school districts sign on ( Miami Herald ) HAWAII Failure to address teacher furlough could jeopardize RttT chances ( Honolulu Star-Bulletin ) IDAHO State supe stumps for RttT ( Times-News ) Luna: Charter school cap to stay ( Times-News ) ILLINOIS RttT funds could target lowest performing schools ( Chicago Daily Herald ) INDIANA DoE rolls out RttT proposal summary ...

NATIONAL: New Teacher-Evaluation Systems Face Obstacles ( Education Week ) ALABAMA: Governor touts charter schools ( Andalusia Star-News ) CALIFORNIA: Guvinator will 'veto' Assembly-passed RttT reform bill ( San Diego Union-Tribune ) Assembly passes reform bill ( Los Angeles Times ) Editorial: 'Assembly failed California's schoolchildren' ( San Jose Mercury News ) COLORADO: Educator evaluation changes focus of bill, Race ( Denver Post ) DELAWARE: State targeting students at risk of dropping out ( The News Journal ) FLORIDA: State is a serious contender ( Eduwonk ) Op-Ed: Ed commish calls Race 'a defining moment' for Florida's schools ( Miami Herald ) School districts asked to line up for Race ( St. Petersburg Times ) IDAHO: Community meetings focus on RttT (KPVI-TV) ILLINOIS: Advance Illinois advances RttT blueprint ( Catalyst Chicago ) KENTUCKY: State ed dept wil lseek authority to remove superintendents, school board members in struggling d...

NATIONAL: Eyeing stimulus money for education, states adopt reforms ( Christian Science Monitor ) States seek stimulus funds tied to education reforms (PBS NewsHour) CALIFORNIA: Parental involvement in Race to the Top (KPBS) RttT bill is divisive ( Sacramento Bee ) ILLINOIS: Hard policy work to advance RttT goals (illinoistatehousenews.com) KANSAS: State is 'well positioned' ( Lawrence Journal-World ) MICHIGAN: State Senate passes teacher tenure bill ( Detroit Free Press ) NEVADA: Special session to address Race to the Top? ( Las Vegas Review-Journal ) ------------------ Past "Updates on the Race"

Michele McNeil at Education Week has a really important story about a new Center on Education Policy report that questions whether states have the capacity to effectively implement proposed Race to the Top reforms -- and suggests that states may be applying for RttT funding primarily because they are short on cash. ...[M]ore than half the states report that their capacity to carry out stimulus-related education changes is a “major problem." In other news: DELAWARE: Plan unveiled ILLINOIS: Gov. Quinn announces leaders of RttT effort MICHIGAN: Racing to the top or slowing to a crawl? NEW JERSEY: Not applying in round one RHODE ISLAND: New laws strengthen RttT effort TENNESSEE: Is in contention TEXAS: 'The feds are coming, the feds are coming' WISCONSIN: Special session could address Milwaukee mayoral takeover