Strauss hits it on the head, as usual:
Today Duncan slapped down most of the finalists, announcing that there were only two states that had created a plan he liked well enough: Tennessee and Delaware.
Now tiny Delaware will get as much $107 million from the Race to the Top fund, and Tennessee will get as much as $602 million. Now the other states can go back and revise their dresses, I mean, their reform projects, and get ready for the next round of the reality competition.
Poor Washington D.C., where Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s take-no-prisoners reform plan has been lauded by the federal government, ended up last among the finalists, according to my colleague Bill Turque.
...
Unfortunately, what is not easy to understand is why President Obama's education secretary is pushing those initiatives. This administration was supposed to bring some reason back into education reform after the failed era of No Child Left Behind.
Washington Post