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Posted by guest blogger Sean Cavanagh.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan offered plenty of praise for the winners in the Race to the Top competition today. But he also directed some of his biggest compliments for those who fell short.
Only the top 10 finishers were awarded a share of $3.4 billion left in Round Two of the federal grant competition. Some prognosticators were surprised—and disappointed—that states that have drawn credit for overhauling their education policies, such as Colorado and Louisiana, didn’t make the cut.
In a conference call with reporters, Duncan sounded disappointed, too. He called Colorado, which ranked 17th, a “national leader” in adopting innovative ed policy. “I was very, very sorry, quite frankly, we weren’t able to fund them,” he said.
Of Louisiana, the secretary said he “would have loved to have funded” the state, a near-miss at 13th. And California, which came in 16th? The