Spokane7
48°
July 27, 2010 in City
Washington not among 18 finalists for education grants
ATLANTA — Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have been named finalists in the second round of the federal “Race to the Top” school reform grant competition, giving them a chance to win a share of $3 billion.
Department officials released the list of finalists ahead of a speech by Education Secretary Arne Duncan.
The states are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.
The competition rewards ambitious reforms aimed at improving struggling schools and closing the achievement gap.
Two states, Tennessee and Delaware, were awarded a total of $600 million in the first round.
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Couple acquitted of caging 2 boys 
509ifyourlucky on July 27 at 9:44 a.m.
The education in the state of Washington is horrible. The only thing all of these overpaid so-called teachers care about is whens my next smoke break.
Radbooks on July 27 at 10:36 a.m.
Smoke break? *rolls eyes*
I’m not so sure this is a bad thing. It may have helped some districts and gone directly into classrooms to lower class sizes, etc. But I know that in our district, which was eligible for about $300,000, almost all of it would have gone for teacher training. That’s a good thing on the surface, but I’ve discovered over my 15 years in education that most of the training classes that my district comes up with are pretty useless.
Perhaps if they could have used the money for some sort of mentoring programs to help struggling teachers it would have been worth it, but just blanket training classes to try and reach everyone whether you need it or not doesn’t work.
Ninch on July 27 at 10:38 a.m.
Hey, clueless. Washington State is near the top for education but the legislature did not change laws (e.g. charter schools) to meet the criteria for the national takeover of public schools by Obama and his boyfriend Arne.
Note: Washington voters have rejected charter schools several times.
west on July 27 at 11:03 a.m.
Good!! More money won’t solve the problem of stupid kids in schools….there are smart parents and smart kids and dumb parents and dumb kids….its been going on for 60 years!!
SpokaneLiberal on July 27 at 11:28 a.m.
Oh 509 - if only you bothered to research your statements before you post them. Washington is below the national average in teacher pay (barely), but substantially above the national average in students proficient in Math, Reading, and Writing.
This isn’t bad news. The Race to the Top is terrible.
eagleproducer on July 27 at 11:31 a.m.
radbooks: Most of the teacher training is useless because the people who develop and deliver it are useless. That says loads about our profession.
Money isn’t the answer in Washington. Developing a means of accountability for our members would be a great place to start. How often are we evaluated? And when we are, how often does the administrator conducting your evaluation have proficiency in the subject area?
Most of what I hear from fellow teachers on improving education in our city and this state start with excuses. “The kids are poor, they have horrible homes, blah, blah, blah…”
How many leaders of organizations are allowed to have a failure rate of 35%? Nancy Stowell, superintendent of District 81, and her associates, currently “enjoy” that rate of “success.” Ms. Stowell’s salary exceeds that of the governor. The districts that are making progress with low income students are ones led by those who hold themselves accountable first. Until there is significant change in leadership in Spokane Schools, from the Palace on Bernard down to principals in almost every high school (LC is the only one not on a plan of improvement) expect more of the same in lost opportunities for more than a third of our children.
As I teacher I view failure as unacceptable. Until my fellows all adopt the that mantra conditions in Spokane schools will continue to deteriorate. There are several outlying districts that work with student populations containing lots of children from lower socio-economic status and are creaming District 81 in student achievement. The difference is we don’t use their poverty as an excuse for not doing our jobs.
eagleproducer on July 27 at 11:34 a.m.
I agree the “Race to the Top” is just another in a long line of federal education reforms with a nice catchphrase to anchor it in the realm of the effective. If the Obama administration were actually concerned with improving education they wouldn’t have reauthorized the No Child Left Behind Act.
mikeln on July 27 at 5:03 p.m.
The future employers of our children no longer care about their education, they are moving the jobs out of this country to improve the bottom line. There is no longer a need for educated people in this country, just look at the unemployment rate of college grads. Just another step towards third world status for us and our country.