DFER and RTTT

DFER's Joe Williams comments on the travesty of Colorado not being among the 10 RTTT Round 2 winners.  That said, DFER still strongly supports RTTT:

 

It's no secret that Democrats For Education Reform has been a huge proponent of the concept that led to the design of the federal "Race To The Top" contest. We have long felt that changing the incentives at the federal level would lead to far more buy-in for reform at the state and local level than when we have seen in the past. And from that perch, we were not disappointed by the competitive spirit that the contest unleashed.

But like Education Secretary Arne Duncan himself, we were deeply disappointed that when the music stopped, the one state that seemed to embrace the spirit of RTTT more than any other could somehow end up standing, while seemingly lesser states had found a chair.

What we saw in Colorado this year was the most impressive display of progressive education policymaking we've seen in any state in years. It is really too bad that the judges either didn't recognize what was right in front of their noses, or worse, didn't care.