This article is the reason I continue to hammer that states need to worry about reform substance not union support when crafting round two RTT applications.
Reading this, you'd think that the reason Connecticut lost in round one was because it had insufficient stakeholder buy-in. The truth is CT had among the worst proposals I've seen. It was weak from top to bottom, especially in the key section on teacher reform.
If CT roped in all of its districts and unions, it might collect another 20 points or so.
But it lost a total of 155 points.
If CT wants to win, it needs to get bold not acquiescent.
--Andy Smarick