Here's a much better NYT editorial, on the first round RTTT winners:

Washington has historically talked tough about requiring the states to reform their school systems in exchange for federal aid, and then caved in to the status quo when it came time to enforce the deal. The Obama administration broke with that tradition this week.

It announced that only two states — Delaware and Tennessee — would receive first-round grants under the $4.3 billion Race to the Top iniative, which is intended to support ambitious school reforms at the state and local levels. The remaining states will need to retool their applications and raise their sights or risk being shut out of the next round.

That includes New York State, which ranked a sad 15th out of 16 finalists.

…the education secretary, Arne Duncan, made clear from the start that the process would favor states that proposed ways of taking student achievement into account in teacher evaluations.

The politically powerful teachers' unions reacted fiercely and predictably to this provision. But the two winning states dispensed with the issue with strong teacher effectiveness laws. The Delaware plan requires teachers and principals to show growth in student achievement as a condition of receiving favorable ratings and allows schools to remove "ineffective" teachers from the classroom. Tennessee passed a strong law mandating that 50 percent of a teacher's or principal's evaluation be based on student achievement data.

By passing these laws, the winning states made clear that the political leaders intended to move forward with reform whether or not localities and unions objected. Rather than be left behind, both parties supported the state's application.

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Enforcing School Standards, at Last

Published: March 30, 2010

www.nytimes.com//2010/03/31/opinion/31wed1.html