Racing Toward a Pot of Gold for Education

Schools all over the nation are poised on the starting line, ready to out-educate each other for a chance to win some of the spoils from President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. For cash-strapped school districts, this would be like finding the pot at the end of the rainbow.

The Race to the Top Fund commits $5 million in federal funds to those state governments that participate in the administration's agenda for educational reform, the Associated Press reports. Those states that meet various conditions will earn points toward bringing in some much-needed funding from the Department of Education.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that the grants will go to 10 to 20 states that can model innovative methods of improvement, according to the Foundation Center. Seven states — Tennessee, Rhode Island, Indiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Colorado and Illinois — are already situated in the starting gates, having freed-up charter schools to do what must be done to compete. Among their tasks are instituting tougher academic standards, successfully recruiting and retaining teachers (not easy!), keeping track of student performance and planning the revitalization of failing schools.

The initiative is not without its detractors. Some teachers unions and various state officials are grumbling at the idea, encouraged in the fund, that links teacher pay with student performance on certain measures including tests that teachers say can be faulty indicators of achievement.

Even so, most of them have no choice but to follow this rainbow; just about every state needs this particular pot of gold.