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Thursday, March 11, 2010

What educators REALLY think about Race to the Top: The only survey that counts

What educators REALLY think about Race to the Top: The only survey that counts

What educators REALLY think about Race to the Top: The only survey that counts

March 11, 2:12 AMJacksonville Public Education ExaminerSteve DiMattia
The Race to the Top is on.  Will the children win?
The Race to the Top is on. Will the children win?
www.dshs.state.tx.us/.../ children_running.jpg
Last week it was announced that Florida is one of 16 state finalists for Phase 1 of President Obama’s $4.35 billion Race to the Top (RT³) competition.

That means that Duval County is now one step closer to getting its potentially $21 million share of the estimated $700 million that Florida will collect if it is one of the winners. And money’s always good, right?

But what do educators REALLY think about RT³?

In a recent survey, Jacksonville’s educators came to the firm conclusion that it’s “too early to tell.”

But it turns out that that survey only told part of the story (and not even the interesting part). So now, only after promising that I would tell nothing but the partially fabricated truth, I’m going to let you in on the only survey that REALLY counts.

In a highly scientific poll distributed to millions of educators (which means that I made it up myself and basically only talked to one retired school librarian that I happened to share a crustless PB&J sandwich and a side of tater tots at lunch with in Memorial Park the other day), I’m going to let the cat out of the bag about what educators and other stakeholders are REALLY saying about RT³.

Don’t share this with too many people because it’s pretty classified stuff:

English teachers have read the rough draft and think it needs serious revising while
Art teachers have declared it to be a masterpiece.
Music teachers sang out, “The whole thing is out of tune” but
Special education teachers know it will work with some modifications.
School counselors earnestly asked, “How does it make YOU feel?” but