First of all, this is one of those cases where what another writer wrote is worded as good if not better than what I could do, so here’s the first part of the article, direct from the AP line:

"Federal officials on Monday awarded Tennessee and Delaware $600 million in grants to improve failing schools, sending a message to other states hoping to win money: revamp your education laws and get your districts and teachers to sign off.

They are the first two states to win the highly competitive “Race to the Top” grants, a $4.35 billion Obama administration program meant to encourage innovative programs to boost student achievement. Tennessee is getting $500 million and Delaware will receive $100 million.

Both states were lauded for their merit pay policies that link teacher pay to student performance and their charter school laws that are welcoming to the nontraditional education models."

VERY welcoming, I must say. Giving money to failing schools who are willing to work on their actual substance and education system rather than just buying a crap ton of computers and hoping that they will help is a great first step to reforming the education system.

Tennessee lawmakers passed a new law during a special session in January that requires student achievement data to comprise half of each teacher’s evaluation, a key reform pushed by the Obama administration.

Lawmakers also lifted the state’s cap on the number of charter schools that can open each year and set up a statewide school district specifically for failing schools. They also got the state’s teachers and school districts to sign off on the plan.

“In Delaware, school districts and teachers approved the application, which highlighted the state’s new law allowing educators to be removed from the classroom if they are rated “ineffective” for two to three years.

The state offers financial incentives to top-notch educators willing to work in failing schools and in high-demand subjects. It will also hire coaches to meet with small groups of teachers several times a month to develop lesson plans based on student test data.”

I can’t find anything to complain about here! It sounds to me like this administration is taking their commitment to change the educational system positively seriously, and I’m happy about it. These are all actually conservative ideas that are talked about here, and hopefully these positive steps forward will be hailed as such.

Getting rid of bad teachers is the biggest one. There have been a couple of bad teachers that I have known of in my life at my own high school, and from insiders that I have talked to the biggest problem is working with the teachers unions to remove these teachers before they can cause irreversible damage to students. A combination of loosening the rein of teachers unions and offering merit based pay is a great start to reforming education in America.