Learning Matters

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Kati Haycock is president of the Education Trust, an organization that advocates reform in education. She is a big supporter of President Obama’s new 4.35 billion dollar incentive plan for education called “The Race to the Top,” a competition among states to come up with the best strategy to overhaul schools.

But there’s a catch: in order to compete states must promise to raise standards, track student performance and tie it to teacher pay, turn around the lowest performing schools, mainly by opening charters and more. The requirements are already causing a stir in the education community.