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Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and state school Superintendent Nancy Grasmick can finally agree on one thing: O'Malley's proposal to make the state competitive for Race to the Top round two. Score one for Grasmick? Before Maryland decided not to apply in the first round of the Race to the Top competition -- making it one of only 10 states not to -- O'Malley said that no legislative changes were needed, while Grasmick insisted that they were if Maryland was to submit an application that had a snowball's chance in hell of being successful. It looks like the Governor has come around. The Baltimore Sun reports that the Governor "wants to add a year to the time it takes public school teachers to achieve tenure and to tie their performance evaluations to data on how well their students are doing" and that Grasmick is "very happy." A draft of the governor's Education Reform Act of 2010 shows that it includes: •Lengthening the teacher tenure 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: Who Would Have Guessed The Race Would Look Like This? (Democrats for Education Reform) 36 States to Apply in Round 1 ( Education Week Politics K-12 blog) CALIFORNIA: Campaign cash from charters driving Governor's, state's goals? ( Contra Costa Times ) Editorial: Schools race to -- where, exactly? ( Los Angeles Times ) Politics, politics (AP) DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: DC gets to apply, too ( Washington Post) GEORGIA: State a 'frontrunner' ( Gainesville Times ) LOUISIANA: State bid would impact teacher evaluation, pay ( The Advocate - Baton Rouge) Educators wary of state plan ( The Advocate - Baton Rouge) MARYLAND: Editorial: Gates rejection a 'wake-up call' ( Baltimore Sun ) MASSACHUSETTS: Op-ed from Stand for Children, Black Leaders for Excellence in Education ( The Boston Globe ) MICHIGAN: Race to the trough in Michigan? (Ann Arbor.com) Editorial: Legislature's 'racing', but to where? ( Lansing State Journal ) NEVADA: Editorial:...

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...

ALABAMA: Gov. Riley to push for charter schools MARYLAND: Gov. O'Malley says state is working on RttT MASSACHUSETTS: State senate passes 'sweeping' ed changes , Gov. Patrick challenges House to do its part NEVADA: Gov. Gibbons wants law change to compete for RttT

California: The tortoise wins? Colorado: A road map Maryland: Late to the starting line Massachusetts: Reform to put a spring in its step? Nevada: Out of the running

An important survey was released this week that captures teachers' perceptions of their professional working environment. The national study of 900 teachers by Public Agenda describes educators as falling into one of three groups: "Disheartened," "Contented," and "Idealists." It also raises some serious policy implications for the placement, retention and longevity of teachers based on teachers' perceptions about working conditions, why they entered the profession, and their opinions about proposed policy reforms. But as useful as this survey may be in defining these issues at a 30,000-foot level, it does not approach the power and utility of teacher surveys that offer entire populations of educators in individual states and districts the opportunity to share their voice about working conditions, leadership support, resources, opportunities for professional learning, etc. In turn, these anonymous surveys also provide contextualized, customized s...