History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
Race to self-destruction: A history lesson for ed reformers
- 04-07-2011
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Guest blog by Yong Zhao/Washington Post
Race to the Top, the Obama Administration’s $4.35 billion education initiative, has been touted many times by President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan as “the most meaningful education reform in a generation.” It is also been proposed as the blueprint for the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently bearing the more notorious title No Child Left Behind (NCLB). I have always found Race to the Top amusingly sad and educationally harmful and written about it in different places including an op-ed piece in Education Week and a couple of posts on my blog. The other day when I was re-reading Jared Diamond’s brilliant book. “ Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” I found his story of how the Easter Islanders’ race to build the most magnificent statues eventually led to their collapse chillingly similar to what is happening to American education. (more...)
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