Inspiring Student Motivation: Race to the Top: Who Decides Where the Money Goes?

Ever wish your students were more motivated? If you’re like most of us, you have tried an array of rewards and punishments to motivate kids. There’s only one problem: it doesn’t work. At least it doesn't work well enough. People (yes, even students) aren’t motivated from the outside so rewards and punishments only work to a point. We are internally motivated. That’s why it's essential to engage and inspire students to be motivated to succeed in school (and life.)

If you’re ready to move beyond the reward/punishment model and embrace a whole new way to understand motivation, I encourage you to come back regularly. It’s time to challenge the status quo and create schools and classrooms based on what really motivates behavior.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Race to the Top: Who Decides Where the Money Goes?

What do you know about the process for determining who is awarded “Race to the Top” money? I’ll admit I didn’t know much. Even though I think “Race to the Top” is the ultimate oxymoron - a competitive process with an objective to help us succeed in an increasingly interdependent and collaborative world – I figured the current administration was enlightened enough to create a decision-making process that is inclusive. Then I read this:

“Education secretary Arne Duncan devised the 500-point scale by which various ‘peer reviewers,’ none of them directly involved in K-12 education, will evaluate the states’ competing bids.”

Yikes!

To read the full story, visit http://www.economicprincipals.com/issues/2010.05.30/1146.html