Updates on the Race: 01-15-2010

Round-one applications are due on January 19, 2010...

CALIFORNIA
Bay Area schools are Racing to the Top (Contra Costa Times)

ILLINOIS
70 percent of districts on board (Peoria Journal Star)

IOWA
RttT bills on the Legislature's agenda today (Des Moines Register Iowa Politics blog)

Seven largest school districts oppose Governor's plans (Des Moines Register)

KENTUCKY
Governor signs low-performing schools bill (Louisville Courier-Journal)

MASSACHUSETTS
Sweeping education bill passes legislature (Boston Globe)

NEW YORK
Unions opposing charter cap lift (New York Post)

RHODE ISLAND
No agreement between state, teachers' unions (Providence Journal)

TENNESSEE
Bill advances in House, headed for Senate vote (The Tennessean)

TEXAS
Editorial: Governor Perry is all 'rhetoric' (Houston Chronicle)

Op-ed: Perry's 'smokescreen' (The Dallas Morning News blog)

UTAH
Three fourths of school districts on board (The Salt Lake Tribune)

WASHINGTON
Governor's reform plan detailed (ABC News)

Editorial: Reforms needed to win round 2 (The Spokesman-Review)

Updates on the Race: 12-14-2009

NATIONAL:
Who Would Have Guessed The Race Would Look Like This? (Democrats for Education Reform)

36 States to Apply in Round 1 (Education Week Politics K-12 blog)

CALIFORNIA:
Campaign cash from charters driving Governor's, state's goals? (Contra Costa Times)

Editorial: Schools race to -- where, exactly? (Los Angeles Times)

Politics, politics (AP)

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: DC gets to apply, too (Washington Post)

GEORGIA: State a 'frontrunner' (Gainesville Times)

LOUISIANA:
State bid would impact teacher evaluation, pay (The Advocate - Baton Rouge)

Educators wary of state plan (The Advocate - Baton Rouge)

MARYLAND: Editorial: Gates rejection a 'wake-up call' (Baltimore Sun)

MASSACHUSETTS: Op-ed from Stand for Children, Black Leaders for Excellence in Education (The Boston Globe)

MICHIGAN:
Race to the trough in Michigan? (Ann Arbor.com)

Editorial: Legislature's 'racing', but to where? (Lansing State Journal)

NEVADA: Editorial: Governor Gibbons' failure to lead (Las Vegas Sun)

NEW YORK:
Strategy to be unveiled (Gotham Schools)

More charters, teacher testing part of plan (Albany Times-Union)

OHIO: State eligibility caught up in budget stand-off? (The Columbus Dispatch)

SOUTH DAKOTA: State probably a 'long shot' (Sioux Falls Argus Leader)

TENNESSEE: State partnership with Battelle to focus on STEM (The Tennesseean)

WASHINGTON: Editorial: 'Beggars can't be whiners' (The News Tribune - Tacoma)

Updates on The Race: 11-23-2009

ARKANSAS: Listening tour a state RttT strategy

DELAWARE: RttT fuels changes to teacher evaluation and school turnarounds

IOWA: More questions than answers?

MICHIGAN: Governor Granholm touts RttT

OHIO: State is in the running

RHODE ISLAND: Ed commish unveils sweeping reform plan

WASHINGTON: State won't apply until round two

Stand For Children

Child advocacy groups are pretty predictable creatures. They're all about childhood immunization, child health care, and early childhood education, right? Well, usually.

Not these folks.

Stand for Children is a national 501(c)(3) based in Portland, Oregon. It is a self-proclaimed "citizen voice for children" that torpedoes the traditional concept of what a child advocacy group is and can do. Stand "builds effective local and statewide networks of grassroots advocates" and focuses on "securing adequate funding for public schools and reforming education policies and practices to help children thrive academically, giving them the opportunities they need to become successful, productive citizens."

Stand has taken on an aggressive reform agenda focused on k-12 education and teacher quality, specifically. Stand was instrumental -- along with the Chalkboard Project -- in passing a visionary teacher mentoring law (HB2574) in the state of Oregon in 2007. (For more, read an article by Stand's Dana Hepper on page 7 of the New Teacher Center's Reflections newsletter.) They've achieved many other successes, too.

Stand has state affiliates in Massachusetts, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington state -- and soon in Colorado as well. It is led by Jonah Edelman, co-founder and executive director.

Check them out.

Washington State Gets it Right for the Next Generation

Washington State joined the ranks of states on the leading edge of promoting college-going among poor kids today when it announced the creation of the College Bound Scholarship, which is targeted at low-income 7th and 8th graders, guaranteeing to make sure that 100% of the gap in their demonstrated financial need (for tuition & fees) is covered and that they receive $500 for books.

Unlike some other states which shall remain nameless, which have created promise-type programs but guaranteed nothing of real value to the kids, this program has some serious chops. Here's why:

1. It is a GUARANTEE. The kid who fulfills the terms of the scholarship gets the money, for sure.
2. It is a TARGETED program. It is advertised with a very clear income eligibility chart.
3. The scholarship is MEANINGFUL. It can be used at a private or public in-state school, fills in all tuition and fees not covered by state grants, and goes beyond to provide money for books, and the money is good for up to 4 years so long as it's used within 5 years of high school graduation.
4. It is PUBLICLY funded. The WA Legislature actually ponied up.

These are all important elements of a good early-commitment financial aid program that are all too often neglected. Serious props to Washington for putting together a program based on research, and packaging it in a way that is simple and accessible. Now, if other states could only follow WA's lead!