The New Teacher Project has been following the RTT process closely. It was one of the first organizations to handicap the race, providing valuable analysis of state laws in light of RTT priorities.
Now, NTP is out with a new and excellent RTT analysis called "The Real Race Begins," the goal of which is to shed light on what happened in round one to improve what happens in round two.
It accurately argues that states can win without broad stakeholder support if they embrace reform (see??FL, LA, and??MA). It includes several very important lessons for reapplying states, such as the importance of statewide and sustainable projects, clear paths to successful implementation, and attention to all application areas (like STEM).
But by far the most valuable section is on the significant problems in peer reviewers' scores (lack of scoring differentiation when warranted, inflated scores, outlier judges, etc). The analysis is thorough, fair-minded, highly revealing, and, in some cases, alarming. The graphics on pages 18 - 20 and 23- 24 are particularly valuable.
ED should take these matters to heart. Fixing them is possible and will result in fairer outcomes. NTP's recommendations, like clearer scoring guidance, are very strong.
I do, however, take issue with a few points in the report. It underestimates the urban focus of the program, which leaders in SD, VT, MT, and other states have publicly criticized.
The biggest error in the report comes in the "refuting RTT myths" section. NTP denies that teachers unions blocked meaningful reforms. That is simply??not the case; unions were unquestionably and consistently a major obstacle to reform across the nation. In this recent report, I recount the enormous impact unions, both state and local, had on reform legislation and the content of proposals (see the sections on "Unions Strike Back" and "Withholding Stakeholder Support").
This is more than a debating point. Arguing that union opposition is not a barrier masks that many states showed political courage by passing reform legislation and that many states will need to choose between bold reform and union support when crafting their final applications. We need to recognize these stark choices and reward states that decide to side with kids and reform over adults and the status quo.
Despite this issue, the NTP report is informative and important. If you care about RTT, you ought to give it a read.
--Andy Smarick
Note: NTP wrote to explain that its point about unions is that they were not uniformly opposed to reform, as evidenced by TN and DE. This shows that it is possible, NTP argues, to have a bold plan and broad buy-in.