So Secretary Arne Duncan is keeping the Race to the Top application reviewers under wraps. Tell me why again? The Eduwonk does his best to lay out the argument.
It just doesn’t add up, though. As Rick Hess explains in greater depth, the justification for the USDOE’s lack of transparency is weak. Concerns about how the process is being handled may be much ado about nothing. But having set up ARRA with promises that money would be distributed with “unprecedented levels of openness” and given the current weakened political state of the Obama administration, this seems like a no-brainer. You err on the side of transparency.
Why? Read the scenario laid out by Fordham’s Mike Petrilli, and begin to wonder about the unnecessary risk to the credibility of the entire Race to the Top process. Colorado and other states should win or lose a share of the money based on the merit of their applications, not based on outside political considerations. So why even open the door to the possibility of such criticisms by closing the door on the identity of the reviewers?
I have avoided the strong temptation here to raise political questions about the motivations of national actors. So far. But presuming good intentions and strong dedication from Secretary Duncan and his team, we ought to see only a few states that demonstrated real seriousness about reform win the prize. And we ought to be able to see who is reviewing the applications sooner rather than later.
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