Why Do You Dislike Race To The Top?

Here are the seven reasons Dr. Jim Taylor dislikes RTTT:

1. RTTT is dishonest (though not maliciously so).
2. RTTT is more of the same.
3. RTTT encourages teaching to the test.
4. RTTT encourages cheating.
5. RTTT makes teachers out to be the problem.
6. Local control of curricula.
7. RTTT doesn’t get at the root cause.

Now, I can’t say I’m lock-step with all of Dr. Taylor’s explanations, but #4 caught my eye right away because of this article on recently discovered cheating.

However, this was–of course–my favorite line in Dr. Taylor’s article: “The teachers are the people who fight the good fight every day against enormous odds for low pay and even less respect.”