President Obama's"Race to the Top" education grant program, which New York is vying for, is receiving both support and harsh criticism. The program calls for the state to create a plan that would help reform that state's education system. The plan must address a number of criteria, including teacher improvement, setting and adopting common educational standards, ways to turn around the lowest-achieving schools and creation of a statewide data system. The schools chosen to receive the grant money can expect about $700 million. However, critics say the program will not improve education. Some civil rights groups believe it will actually hurt America's neediest schools. Others say the "Race to the Top" program is a tradeoff worth making.
Do you think the program can help New York state and our local schools or will it only serve to hurt America's schools as a whole?
