Race to Top winners chosen arbitrarily -- new report
Blog by Valerie Strauss/Washington Post
Tennessee and Delaware, the first two states to win education funding through President Obama's $3 billion Race To the Top competition, were chosen through “arbitrary criteria” rather than through a scientific process, according to a new report by a non-partisan research institute. The report called, “Let’s Do the Numbers,” by William Peterson and Richard of the nonprofit, independent Washington D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute, says that the 500-point system created to decide the “best” proposals for education reform is based on false precision. In the first round Education Secretary Arne Duncan chose two winners from 16 finalists. Delaware won $100 million, or about $800 per student, and Tennessee was awarded $500 million, or about $500 per student. (more...)