Study: Obama's Education Policy Has Failed in Several Ways

The Obama administration's ballyhooed education policy known as "Race to the Top" hasn't worked out so well, according to a study by the educational advocacy group Broader, Bolder Approach to Education.

Race to the Top was part of the 2009 government stimulus program. It gave 11 states and the District of Columbia at least tens of millions of dollars over four years in return for major changes to their education systems.

States promised to improve student performance and put in place tougher academic standards. They also agreed to rate teachers and principals partly on student performance.

"States made unrealistic and impossible promises," the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education study, written by its National Coordinator Elaine Weiss, says.

"With one exception, every grantee state promised to raise student achievement and close achievement gaps to degrees that would be virtually or literally impossible even with much longer timelines and larger funding boosts."

Almost every state was slow to implement its teacher evaluation systems, because they didn't have enough time to put together all of the elements, Weiss wrote.