Education Week just published a lengthy article about Colorado’s ambitious effort to land a Race to the Top grant. It begins:
If the competition for a slice of $4 billion in federal Race to the Top Fund money were a school class, Colorado would be one of the kids sitting up front, furiously taking notes, and leaping up to answer every one of the teacher’s questions.
I stand by what I wrote yesterday: A new Denver school board needs to be careful about how it proceeds, because a bad decision or two in the short term could negate all the hard work and doom Colorado’s chances. If the board drags its feet about overhauling the district’s worst schools, that will send a clear and negative message to the U.S. Department of Education.
That’s just a predicition, not based on any inside information. But I predicted in August that the odious New York Yankees would win the World Series. I based that forecast on the evidence in front of me — the Bronx Bombers were clearly the best team.
Similarly, the feds have been quite clear about what they need to see from states that want R2T money. It doesn’t take the clairvoyance of Edgar Cayce to hazard a guess about what stopping school turnarounds in Denver would do to Colorado’s chances. Don’t believe me? Listen to what President Obama said yesterday. He’s unequivocal in the first 1:30 of this clip:
Popularity: 13% [?]
[...] a share of the money. Meanwhile, the results from last week’s Denver school board election has some urban reformers worried that the grant application could be in [...]