The Educated Guess Massachusetts leads, California lags

The Educated Guess

Massachusetts leads, California lags

Posted in Common Core standards

California likes to be linked with Massachusetts as states with the nation’s most rigorous academic standards. Call it bragging by association.
A big difference, though, is that the Bay State is also high-achieving – near the top of the National Assessment of Educational Progress state rankings, among other measures – while California bumps along year after year near the bottom.
The two states’ approaches to evaluating common-core standards, being developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, are revealing as well – and tell a lot about how seriously the two states go about deciding education policy.
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By John Fensterwald on May 19th, 2010

Now or never to sign Race to the Top MOU

Posted in Race to the Top

A 19-page memorandum of understanding for signing up for Round 2 of Race to the Top went out Monday. District, county offices of education and charter schools will have only until Wednesday to indicate whether they’re in or out.
This time, there will be no coaxing or convincing, with a wink or a nod, that districts can always back out later if they don’t like the terms. This time, the state’s not going all out to build a big tent of participants at the sacrifice of strong commitments. This time, superintendents, local union presidents and presidents of the boards of trustees should sign the dotted line only if they’re prepared to agree to a specific and lengthy set of reforms.
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