How will you spend your Thanksgiving break?
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education named New York as one of the 16 finalist states for its Race to the Top Fund, a program that would award nearly $5 billion to the state with the most comprehensive and compelling plans for education reform.
But many, like Diane Ravitch, a senior research scholar at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, do not believe that New York has done enough to merit such recognition.
"I have no idea why New York was chosen since it did not comply with some of the requirements," Ravitch said. "In my view, Race to the Top will intensify the negative pressures ('teach to the test' and privatization) inspired by No Child Left Behind."
According to New York State Education Commissioner David Steiner, New York's education proposal was forward-looking enough to earn the state its finalist spot.
"Together, we developed a strong and competitive proposal that will advance the bold reforms needed to turn around failing schools, close the achievement gap and enable all of our children to succeed," Steiner said.
New York's application to the program included an aggressive proposal to turn around failing schools, expand standardized tests to make them more comprehensive, expand curriculum offerings and implement a P-20 data system to help correlate student performance with teacher effectiveness.
"These reforms aim to ensure that all of New York's public schools have truly effective teachers and principals, high quality curricula, well-designed assessments and are focused on the academic success of every child," Steiner said.
The New York State Education Department Board of Regents has also made plans to increase the number of charter schools, especially secondary schools, in New York state. The board wants to allow educational management organizations that have been effective in raising achievement for students that need it the most to manage schools.
Additional legislative priorities include giving the Regents more authority to intervene in underperforming schools, improving the pass rate for GEDs, and continuing to fund the Smart Scholars Early College High School Program.
Other finalists include Colorado, Georgia and Tennessee. Colorado's proposal included "turnaround centers," which would be operated by non-profit organizations and used to help turn around low-performing schools. Tennessee hopes to implement a data system to track student growth, while Georgia cited prior success through classroom auditing to improve low-performing schools.
