Race+2t+Top+-+Effect+on+Teachers

** ﻿ Race to the Top and Its Effect on Teachers** ** Becky, Paige, & Stephanie ** Image retrieved from Google Images

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Retrieved from youtube Obama's Race to the Top program emphasizes improving quality education and improving teacher quality.

With this program there is a lot more expected from teachers, making their job even more challenging than it already is.
 * Teachers will now be evaluated on their students' academic achievements, through their academic growth and test scores.


 * Race to the Top now suggests five accountability measures for teachers:


 * "A teacher effectiveness measure that reports on whether program graduates help their K-12 students to learn


 * Measures of classroom teaching performance of program graduates built on reliable and valid classroom observation instruments


 * Persistence rates in teaching for all program graduates, disclosed to the publicfor up to five years post-completion


 * Feedback surveys from program graduates and from their employers


 * A new system of teacher licensure testing, with the number of current tests cut by more than 90 percent, and with every state adopting the same tests and the same pass rate policies" (Crowe, 2011).


 * “Effective teachers” are defined for the Race to the Top as those “whose students achieve acceptable rates (at least one grade level in an academic year) of student growth.” - ( Crowe, 2011).

“With Race to the Top, no-one really wins. Not the winners, and certainly not the many many losers” (Vender, 2010, para. 3). Retrieved from google images

With the new Race to the Top, teachers have an even bigger load on their shoulders when it comes to their students passing and receiving high grades on standardized tests. Race to the Top is basically a competition to see which schools can receive the highest grades first. If the students in a class do not receive sufficient grades the teacher of that classroom can be out of a job. With Race to the Top the creativity of the curriculum seems to become even narrower than before. Teachers are teaching strictly to the test in fear of their jobs. It seems as if there is no longer room for the fun part of teaching. With the lack of creativity in the classroom students will become easily distracted and spend less time absorbing new material then they did before (Greenspan, 2010).

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">According to the article //Fact Sheet: The Race to the Top (2009),// Race to the Top emphasizes that "Attracting and keeping great teachers and leaders in America’s classrooms by expanding effective support to teachers and principals; reforming and improving teacher preparation; revising teacher evaluation, compensation, and retention policies to encourage and reward effectiveness; and working to ensure that our most talented teachers are placed in the schools and subjects where they are needed the most" (p.2). Retrieved from //Race to the top’ threatens teachers, public// //education//

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">References

Crowe, E. (2011, March). Race to the Top and Teacher Preparation, analyzing state strategies for ensuring real accountability and fostering program innovation. //Center for American Progress.// Retrieved from [] //Fact sheet: The race to the top//. (2009, November 4). Retrieved June 28, 2011, from http://archive.austinisd.org/inside/initiatives/compensation/docs/ SCI_Fact%20Sheet_The_Race_Top.pdf

Greenspan, J. (2010, September 12). //‘Race to the top’ threatens teachers, public// //education//. Retrieved June 13, 2011, from Workers World website: []

Vender, A. (2010, October 17). //The education race//. Retrieved June 28, 2011, from Indy Kids website: http://indykids.net/main/2010/10/the-education-race/