How Tennessee and Delaware Won $600 Million for Schools

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man if the only reason tn was awarded all that money was for the "value added" component of school assessment, we are all screwed. Having moved here from out of state, I can tell you the tennessee school system is horrible. The standards are astonishingly low, the teachers are underpaid, and nobody really seems to care about education. They care about football scholarships. If the money were to be spent on improving the curriculum and setting standards on par with high performing states, then it might be worth it. But that value added component of assessment - is just mumbo-jumbo that has no direct impact on the education of our children. My prediction, unless the money is put to better use, tennessee will remain at the bottom of the nation in terms of educational performance.

budgiegirl of TN 8:43PM March 31, 2010

Here's the thing, all the smoke and mirrors, all the standardized testing, everything we do is based on a viewpoint of just herding as many kids as possible through the system.
What we really need to do is drop back and teach children Socratic thinking. Yes, Socrates is the guy that get's credit for what we know as scientific reasoning. By teaching kids to reason for themselves, to THINK through problems and arrive at logical, well founded solutions, we can begin to recapture some of the lost ground in educating our nation.
Go to "TOC for Education" to learn more...

Wil of TN 10:24AM March 31, 2010

I'm glad you covered how far states bent over legislatively to increase their chances in Obama and Duncan's competition. But I can't tell if the changed laws in California and Louisiana, and the painful attempts in New York, represent progress toward Obama's pro-charter agenda.
It has at least showed people in those states, that desperation for education funding can make a legislature pass laws they would not have gotten around to otherwise. Whether those laws remain on the books after states lose out in the remaining rounds of RTTP will be even more telling.

Matt of NY 9:51AM March 31, 2010