race to the top

Massachusetts was awarded $250 million from the "race to the top". They were one of the ten that won money from the $4.35 billion competition. Massachusetts showed huge improvements from the first round of founding. The program aims to reward states that are changing educational programs and that overhauls failing schools. The other winners in the second round of the competition were: Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia.

They say the money would close the achievement gap between white students and students of color, students with special needs and students who do not speak English as their first language. Massachusetts was rejected in the first round of grants, which sent shock waves because it has one of the most rigorous academic standards in the country. this was because they did not want to change their standards, and they gave teachers to much say in what to do to failing schools.The American Federation of Teachers of Massachusetts, which supported the first application, reversed its position for the second round, outraged that hundreds of teachers in Boston were asked to reapply for their jobs at under performing schools in Boston.

The article deals with federalism because it deals with the federal, state and local governments being involved in education. In the constitution it states that education is a state and local government power. The federal government has found away around this. The federal government works with the state governments, to set national regulation that states have to meet to get extra national money, like the "race to the top money" in the article. They are not required regulations, so it does not violate the constitution.

It is a good thing that the federal government is making education an important topic. Money should not be what is changing state standards in education, the states should just change them themselves. Making the standards higher would better of the country in the future because there would be more smart people in the work force. It is also a good thing to see that national money is going to eduction change but it should not be the only thing changing it.

Mass. awarded $250 million in Race to the Top competition