Race to the ...

An interesting turn of events! The state is clearly pushing as many districts as they can to sign up for Race to the Top (RTTT) -- which both here and in other forums have raised more questions than answers (including the fact that there is still no authorizing legislation from Sacramento). As reported in the Press Enterprise prior to the holidays, we in RUSD have chosen not to participate in RTTT until a few more questions have been resolved. We do believe in reform that benefits our students -- but that all is historical.

Over the winter holidays, we were informed by the State Board of Education (SBE) and California Department of Education (CDE) that we must appear before the SBE and explain to them which of the RTTT turnaround models that we have been using with our schools in Program Improvement (PI). Specifically the letter we received said, "For each of your Program Improvement schools, please describe the actions you have taken to improve student performance. The SBE has specific interest in the extent to which you may have engaged in one of the four models that now exist under the Race to the Top legislation."

All of this seems rather curious as I thought we were trying to resolve the "sanction" issue (NCLB), which the SBE has authority over. Now we are suddenly providing evidence of what we have done with RTTT and schools in PI -- and RTTT has only been in existence since school dismissed last spring (and we still don't know what RTTT means?).

Soo... I along with several staff members will be in Sacramento over the next several days testifying before the SBE. It should be interesting -- stay tuned!!

Sorry for all of the alphabet soup -- but such is the world that we are in.

P.S.  You can find our report on our website if you are interested.