Ugly Politics Ahead: Result of RTT's Focus on Words, Not Deeds
by Frederick M. Hess • Aug 25, 2010 at 9:40 am
Cross-posted from Education Week
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While I've my doubts about urging states to launch new initiatives when job one ought to be financial retrenching, I'm happy to see heavy lifts and real accomplishments recognized in places like Rhode Island, D.C., Massachusetts, and Florida.
That said, in assessing a process that inexplicably left Louisiana and Colorado out of the winners circle, we need to recognize that Congress and the Department of Education conspired to create a competition that primarily rewarded states for embracing ED-endorsed best practices rather than the more mundane efforts to clear away anachronistic policies and reset the policy environment. As I wrote in March:
"RTT embodies two visions of reform. The first cracks open systems hampered by anachronistic bureaucracies and policies; thus the enthusiasm for encouraging states to knock down data firewalls or to lift charter-school caps...The second vision is a reiteration of the familiar progressive predilection for prescriptive reform. For
