Race to the Top Anniversary Is No Cause for Celebration
Tina Korbe /
Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan were on the road at a high school in Wilmington, Del., this week to celebrate the anniversary of the first Race to the Top awards.
“We were able to help jump-start some of the farthest reaching education reforms in history,” Biden said at Monday’s event. “All across the country, Race to the Top is inspiring the same kind of change we’re seeing here in Delaware.”
The vice president is right about at least one thing: The reforms were far-reaching. Delaware received $100 million in federal funding through Race to the Top — and the state applied those funds to institutions like Howard High, a school in downtown Wilmington with 860 students — 60 percent of whom are low-income. Thanks to Race to the Top, Howard has a new principal and a few new plans for the future. Eventually — or so the theory goes — those new plans will produce real changes.