Resisting the blackmail of "Race to the Top," three articles

State legislators' organization urges feds not to tie state aid to charter school policy Caroline Grannan looks at how the Education Committee of the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has written the administration with as strong stance against tying "Race to the Top" funds to backward requirement which will only end up hurting students and communities.

Getting your class organized Sarah Knopp reviews a new book that looks at the class stratification in our schools. Read this piece with an understanding that this is precisely why Duncan and Obama want to blackmail schools into accepting their Orwellian-named 'race to the top' funding -- reinforcing class divisions in society. Children of the well-to-do (read wealthy and white) aren't subject to high stakes testing and route learning. It's a given that Duncan's own education included nothing like he's trying to inflict on our schools.

Does Bay Area Rep. George Miller support harming Calif. schools? One blogger thinks so Caroline Grannan explores how the blackmail portion of the so called "Race to the Top" money was carefully crafted with California in mind. There is some sense to this, in order to inflict the same failed policies Duncan implemented in Chicago Public Schools, there had to be some incentive to temp school boards into looking away from his record and to the money. Duncan's disdain for local community control and teachers unions is well documented.