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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Tennessee and Delaware are the only two winners in the
first round of RTTT. Everyone else loses. Apparently one characteristic that
helped them win was strongly tying teacher evaluation to student scores on
standardized tests - but there are numerous factors. As states - and their Gates
consultants, I suppose - review the winners and the near winners' applications
and compare them with their own, they will push to do what the winners have
done. How much will that be an effort to tie scores to teacher eval? Anyone know
off the top how much weight the winners give to student test scores in their
proposed teacher rating systems? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The Wash Post said one of DC (last among the 16 finalists)
and other state's pitfalls was lack of strong support from local districts and
unions. Now states might be more beholden to them to get approvals for the next
round, while having to pressure them to do things they don't want to do (e.g.,
rate teachers to a 'significant' extent on their students' test scores).
Districts and unions need to hold firm and not agree to educationally damaging
practices. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The department press release is at <A
title="http://www.ed.gov CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="http://www.ed.gov">www.ed.gov</A> on the home page.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The state rankings chart - all applicants, then the round
of 16 - is at <A
title="http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/phase1-applications/score-summary.pdf CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/phase1-applications/score-summary.pdf">http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/phase1-applications/score-summary.pdf</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The Post article is at <A
title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/29/AR2010032901276.html CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/29/AR2010032901276.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/29/AR2010032901276.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Ed Week's article is at <A
title="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2010/03/st_st_and_st_win_race_to_the_t.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CampaignK-12+%28Education+Week+Blog%3A+Politics+K-12%29 CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2010/03/st_st_and_st_win_race_to_the_t.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CampaignK-12+%28Education+Week+Blog%3A+Politics+K-12%29">http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2010/03/st_st_and_st_win_race_to_the_t.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CampaignK-12+%28Education+Week+Blog%3A+Politics+K-12%29</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Monty</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Monty Neill, Ed.D.<BR>Interim Executive
Director<BR>FairTest<BR>15 Court Sq., Ste. 820<BR>Boston, MA
02108<BR>857-350-8207 x 101<BR>fax 857-350-8209<BR><A
href="mailto:monty@fairtest.org">monty@fairtest.org</A><BR><A
href="http://www.fairtest.org">www.fairtest.org</A><BR>Donate: <A
title="https://secure.entango.com/donate/MnrXjT8MQqk CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="https://secure.entango.com/donate/MnrXjT8MQqk">https://secure.entango.com/donate/MnrXjT8MQqk</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>