This Washington
Washington State Gets Failing Grade on Education Reform Application
Washington State was knocked out of the competition for federal education dollars (Obama's Race to the Top program) last month. Our application fell short on Obama prerequisites such as tracking teacher evaluation to student test scores and allowing charter schools.
Today, we got the first look at the actual score on our application. Washington got just 290 out of a possible 500 points, ranking us 32nd out of 36 state applicants. Also on the bottom of the list: Alabama, Maine, Mississippi, and Montana.
"We knew we weren't going to do great, but we didn't know we were going to get creamed," said Maureen Trantham, spokeswoman for Partnership for Learning, a business-backed education reform group. (PFL warned state leaders about our underwhelming plan earlier this year.) More specifics on our score, including where exactly we lost points, are due out later this week.
Gov. Chris Gregoire had tried to overcome our applications shortcomings on the Obama metrics by getting local school districts to sign on–demonstrating a measure of buy-in that other states (the ones that tracked closer to the reform standards) didn't have. Her pitch: Our plan, though not as dramatic, was more likely to succeed while states that were ramrodding change (mostly over teachers unions, which don't like the evaluation piece) were bound to fail.
For our coverage of the ed reform debate, which divides union-backed Democrats and reform-minded Democrats, start here.
Democrats, including state house Rep. Tina Orwall (D-33), hyped this year's education reform bill after it passed,
Today, we got the first look at the actual score on our application. Washington got just 290 out of a possible 500 points, ranking us 32nd out of 36 state applicants. Also on the bottom of the list: Alabama, Maine, Mississippi, and Montana.
"We knew we weren't going to do great, but we didn't know we were going to get creamed," said Maureen Trantham, spokeswoman for Partnership for Learning, a business-backed education reform group. (PFL warned state leaders about our underwhelming plan earlier this year.) More specifics on our score, including where exactly we lost points, are due out later this week.
Gov. Chris Gregoire had tried to overcome our applications shortcomings on the Obama metrics by getting local school districts to sign on–demonstrating a measure of buy-in that other states (the ones that tracked closer to the reform standards) didn't have. Her pitch: Our plan, though not as dramatic, was more likely to succeed while states that were ramrodding change (mostly over teachers unions, which don't like the evaluation piece) were bound to fail.
For our coverage of the ed reform debate, which divides union-backed Democrats and reform-minded Democrats, start here.
Democrats, including state house Rep. Tina Orwall (D-33), hyped this year's education reform bill after it passed,
