Education's revolution? "Race To The Top "

[MA-Caver]

Is this really going to help students in the long run I wonder? Sure enough money to get better quality teachers and materials, et al. But is it going to be enough?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100808/pl_mcclatchy/3585264
WASHINGTON — When [COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Education [COLOR=#366388 ! important]Secretary [/COLOR][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Arne [/COLOR][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Duncan[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] inserted a half-page program description into the economic stimulus act last year, few except top Democratic leaders knew that it would create Race to the Top, a multibillion-dollar sweepstakes to overhaul U.S. schools that gave Duncan's department unprecedented power.
With only $4.3 billion — less than 1 percent of federal, state and local education dollars — Race to the Top is one of many small, relatively inexpensive projects that lawmakers plopped into the recovery act. What's striking about the competition, which awards millions to the states that best adopt Duncan-backed policies, is that the secretary arguably got more states to buy his brand of change in 18 months than any other U.S. school chief had in the Cabinet-level [COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Education [COLOR=#366388 ! important]Department's[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] 29-year history.
Forty-one states applied for the first round. Tennessee and Delaware were declared victors in March, and state education leaders spent the spring badgering their legislatures to pass Race to the Top-friendly laws for round two. Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia submitted applications by the June 1 deadline. Duncan selected 18 finalists in late July and will announce the winners of the latest go-around in September.
Last month, the secretary referred to it as part of a "quiet revolution" in U.S. school systems.