LAE reacts to state's loss of phase one Race to the Top funding “A 'win' would have been 'loss' for students, public education”.

Today's announcement that the state of Louisiana will not receive phase one Race to the Top funding brought a sense of relief to Louisiana teachers. A "win" they feared, would in fact represent a "loss" as the state would have been moving one step closer to implementing unproven strategies that would have done more harm than good, and undermined the spirit of public education.

 
 

The following statement can be attributed to LAE President Joyce Haynes: "This is one loss that is actually a win.

 
 

"Educators know how badly our schools need these funds. But I am afraid that any good that would have come from this money would have been overshadowed by the bad.  From the use of student test scores to determine compensation, to models of assessment that were inconsistent and not fully transparent, we would have been doing just the opposite of what Race to the Top intended.

 
 

"A basic tenet of education reform is to tear down-not erect-barriers to reach those who need it most.  But that is what Race to the Top, as Louisiana envisioned it, did. What educator would want to risk their livelihood to teach students other than the most academically talented?  It goes against our calling but the reality is, teachers are mothers and fathers, homeowners and consumers who must pay for childcare, mortgage, buy gas and groceries.  At the end of the day, we have to earn a dependable salary in order to be able to take care of our obligations. 

 
 

"Louisiana's Race to the Top vision would have ultimately penalized those that teach the academically challenged.

 
 

"Do we need education reform?  Yes.  Was Louisiana's Race to the Top vision the right way to do it?  No.  Because it pitted stakeholders against each other, it was a stumbling block to collaboration-also a tenet to education reform. It failed to truly factor in two other key stakeholders in the reform equation: families and communities. 

 
 

"While the LAE didn't support the initiatives outlined in Louisiana's Race to the Top application, LAE remains committed to education reform and looks forward to working with the Louisiana Department of Education and the education community to ensure all students have access to great public schools."