Race To The Top Program Will Be The New NCLB

No Child Left Behind is up for re-authorization.

Since this is an election year, the re-authorization is going to have to wait until AFTER the November midterms to get done.

There have been questions about just what kind of law President Accountability would push.

You might remember back when he was a candidate, President Accountability was CRITICAL of NCLB and the emphasis on testing and punitive measures for schools.

But now that he IS president, he has doubled down on both those items in his Race to the Top program and in fact wants 10%-20% of the "worst-performing" public schools across this country shut down, the teachers and administrators fired, and those schools reopened under new operators (many of whom will be for-profit EMO's.)

Race to the Top has engendered lots of controversy and now pushback as civil rights organizations and educators have pointed out that many of the "reforms" pushed by RttT are either unproven or disproven.

Nonetheless, President Accountability has dug in and not only will there not be any substantive changes to Race to the Top for next year, ALL the odious provisions related to school closings, teacher firings and standardized testing added to every grade at every level will be enshrined in the new No Child Left Behind law (what I like to call Obama's No Child Left Behind Jr.)

Here is Edweek on what Obama wants NCLB Jr. to look like:

The Obama administration is standing by its signature education reform initiative, the Race to the Top program, and the policies wrapped up in that competition—even as the aggressive agenda continues to spark pushback, most recently from some civil rights groups.

Calling Race to the Top “the single most important thing we’ve done” on education, President Barack Obama used a July 29 speech to make a forceful rebuttal to criticism of his efforts, including from members of his own party in Congress.

...

In Mr. Obama’s speech, the president focused mostly on the Race to the Top, which embodies many of the principles the administration wants to carry forward as Congress works to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

He made it clear that he doesn’t want to see wholesale changes to the Race to the Top program, which two congressional panels recently voted to extend for an additional year.

“I’ll continue to fight for Race to the Top with everything I’ve got, including using a veto to prevent folks from watering it down,” Mr. Obama said.

The president also explained his administration’s policies on teacher quality, which have called for states to link teacher performance to student-achievement data and overhaul evaluations, tenure, and retention decisions.

“The whole premise of Race to the Top is that teachers are the single most important factor in a child’s education from the moment they step into the classroom,” Mr. Obama said.

Not parents, not families, not communities, not children themselves - nope, only the teacher is the single most important factor in a child's education.

And so what the Obama administration will emphasize most in NCLB Jr. is the scapegoating of teachers.

Test scores aren't high enough?

You're fired.

Work in a district with the highest rates of poverty, addiction, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, unemployment, and other societal dysfunctions in the state - ALL of which gravely affect how students perform (or do NOT perform) in school?

You're fired.

Students don't give a shit about going to school and would rather sit home and watch Maury or Spongebob?

You're fired.

Kids have ADD, can't sit still, can't read or write at grade level and parents are either too busy working or themselves do not have emotional tools to help?

You're fired.

No matter what the problem, there will be NO excuses for teachers.

Instead they will be fired and schools will be closed.

There will of course be PLENTY of excuses for parents, kids and policy makers themselves.

As I pointed out here, President Accountability ONLY wants to hold teachers accountable.

Holding himself, the people in his administration, business leaders who brought down the economy and continue to harm it - not so much on the accountability for them.

If you're a teacher and you still support this administration, you're a masochist.

Because they're going to screw teachers in the NCLB Jr. law and you can be SURE that it will make the Bush NCLB look progressive.