The U.S. Department of Education has awarded nine states and the District of Columbia a total of $3.3 billion for a variety of education reforms in the second round of the Race to the Top competition. The winners were chosen from 19 finalists. Applications were judged on a 500-point scale.
Click on the winning states to see how they scored and how much money they were awarded.
In Los Angeles, where I teach seventh-grade math, our current teacher evaluation system is undeniably broken. Initially designed to be a robust observation protocol and rubric, our system has degenerated into a 10-minute checklist. A well-intentioned but often overspent administrator comes into my room, fills out the requisite paperwork and signs on the dotted line. [...]
In America’s push for education reform, the college completion problem is now under the microscope. The Obama Administration’s goal, for instance, is to have 60 percent of young people (aged 25-34) across the country with some postsecondary credential by 2020. But experts say this can’t be reached until another problem is solved; 1.2 million students [...]
In 2009, the federal government made an unprecedented investment in the country’s lowest-performing schools when it sent them $3.5 billion with an order: turn things around. Sufficient time has now passed for researchers and policymakers to begin examining how well the School Improvement Grant program (SIG) is working. So far, the evidence has been largely [...]
Will Ben Austin grow weary of organizing? The 43-year-old lawyer, education reformer, community organizer and father of two has taken on a huge job, mobilizing parents in Los Angeles to help them transform consistently failing schools that he believes are not serving children. In the last three years, as the director of Parent Revolution, Austin [...]
A faculty union president at Bergen Community College got his granddaughter’s failing grades changed because “the BCC community is far too inbred,” wrote Ross Anzaldi, a retired judge who was hired by the board to investigate the case. The administrative culture is unprofessional, Anzaldi wrote in his report: “Too many people do too many favors for [...]
Recruiting community college women into STEM majors isn’t rocket science, according to Donna Milgram, who’s studied the issue at eight California community colleges. Personal encouragement from instructors or counselors is needed to get women to consider predominantly male science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs, Milgram, executive director of the Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Science (IWITTS), [...]
Uncle Sam wants veterans to sign up for college! And colleges and universities are vying to create “veteran friendly” programs, classes, and centers to attract the ex-G.I.’s—and the billions of U.S. dollars provided by the post-9/11 G.I. Bill. Onondaga Community College, in Syracuse, N.Y., uses veterans to help new G.I. Bill enrollees. “I’ve seen almost instant [...]
Many community college students earn more credits than they need on the way to an associate degree, concludes a Community College Research Center study by Matthew Zeidenberg. Excess credits cost about $6 million a year, counting only courses students passed. New students often don’t know what they want to study, he writes. They may try [...]
California community college students still have trouble transferring credits to state universities, despite a plan to streamline transfers, concludes an analysis by the Legislative Analyst’s Office. Under the new law, community colleges are supposed to create associate degrees designed for transfer to the California State University system. Students who earn these degrees should be able [...]
Siobhan Curious, who teaches at Quebec’s version of community college, was having a lousy day even before a failing student walked in to make it worse. Kalia had failed the same class in the autumn because she didn’t come to class. After skipping the first two weeks of her second try, she came to the office [...]
