California needs 'Race to the Top' funds -- latimes.com:
"Although critics are right to say we have substantial work to do to improve our measures of student progress, they are quite wrong if they claim we can afford to wait until we have perfect assessments before we start down this road. Intentionally blinding ourselves to teachers' effectiveness cannot be the right answer.
Saying yes will require difficult changes. True leadership in this moment means actively piloting systems that connect the work of teachers to the progress of students in smart, thoughtful ways. Any other choice means accepting a different firewall -- one that stands between California's children and hundreds of millions of dollars in desperately needed federal funds, and between our children and the future they deserve"
"Although critics are right to say we have substantial work to do to improve our measures of student progress, they are quite wrong if they claim we can afford to wait until we have perfect assessments before we start down this road. Intentionally blinding ourselves to teachers' effectiveness cannot be the right answer.
Saying yes will require difficult changes. True leadership in this moment means actively piloting systems that connect the work of teachers to the progress of students in smart, thoughtful ways. Any other choice means accepting a different firewall -- one that stands between California's children and hundreds of millions of dollars in desperately needed federal funds, and between our children and the future they deserve"