Where Are We Racing?

While a few people are questioning if we should be involved in the Race to the Top, some are wondering how Maine will stack up against other states.  Stephen Bowen of the Maine Heritage Policy Center has taken it upon himself to closely examine Maine’s chances at the RttT funding.  Can Maine expect any of those much needed funds?  According to Bowen’s assessment, we shouldn’t count on it.Bowen released his report(PDF Warning), titled “Racing to Catch Up”, yesterday.  If you were hoping to see some RttT money coming to Maine, Bowen’s report please you.  “Simply put,” said Bowen in his report, “without major changes in state policy, Maine has almost no chance of winning millions of dollars in federal funding for our schools.”  Bowen goes through each of the six Race criteria, reviewing what steps Maine has taken to meet federal requirements.  In the “Great Teachers and Leaders” section, Bowen finds Maine lacking severely.  With the most points at stake, Maine lacks alternative teacher certifications, teacher and admin evaluation systems, and ease of removing ineffective teachers need to qualify in this area.

Bowen does more than criticize however.  At the end of each section, Bowen provides his ideas for how to get make Maine truly competitive in the RttT.  In regards to “Standards and Assessments”, Bowen recommends that Maine  “demonstrate a serious commitment to meaningful accountability through the development of new assessment instruments to accompany the coming transition to common standards.”

In a report by Matt Stone, Bowen went on to say, “All across the country, you’ve got school districts and states really ramping up” education reform agendas.  “Everybody else in the nation, it appears, is just really moving forward aggressively. In Maine, it’s crickets.”  Education Commissioner Susan Gendron is more optimistic about Maine’s chances than Bowen. Gendron feels the addition of “innovative schools” and the MLTI laptop program puts Maine in a good position to earn funding.  Unfortunately, no one seems to have informed Gendron of the study conducted by the Center for American Progress, the  American Enterprise Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last fall.  The study gave Maine education a “D” in technology.  Maine lacked any method of gauging success of failure in the program, according to the study.

There is sure to be resistance, as Bowen mentions, to many of the reforms required by the RttT.  The MEA is sure to be the loudest opponent, as I’ve said before.  It would be unwise to think the MEA has no clout with these issues.  They are still powerful and would prefer if the reform crickets kept right on singing.  Despite the American Federation of Teachers call for linking student test scores to teacher evaluations, the National Education Association affiliated MEA wont likely be supporting that anytime soon.  Nor would many, read any, teachers that I have discussed performance pay with.  Not unless we see some serious testing reform and other changes, which many suggested near impossible to realize.

We know that Texas wont go the long haul.  Some are starting to refer to RttT as the “Race to Nowhere” or “Race to the Bottom“.  Folks will continue to debate which reforms Maine should seek or not.  With the budget rally fresh in everyone’s mind one must question if we can afford not to do whatever it takes to get that money, even if that money is only a temporary fix.