The Race to the Top legislation was passed in January 2010 as a way to reform the educational system of states as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — and affects ISU students preparing for future teaching jobs.

This bill creates a competitive reward system for states, providing grants to states that meet a set of requirements and get a certain score on their checklist for grading created by the federal government. This list of requirements includes data systems to support instruction, great teachers and standards and assessments.

The grants are given out in two phases: one that is applied for in January and rewarded in April and one that is applied for in June and rewarded in August.

The state of Iowa applied for both phases. Iowa did not get a top score on the assessment and was not granted any funds either attempt.

Ensuring equitable distribution of effective teachers and principles is worth 25 points on the assessment, and encourages districts to pay based on merit and student performance.

Two future teachers and education majors, Emily Bennett and Olivia Leacox, are in favor of implementing Race to the Top legislation policies across the state of Iowa.

Bennett, freshman in elementary education, agrees with the bill.

“I do not believe that education should be in total federal control,” she said. “I think that local control should definitely have control over education. I do agree that Iowa should be on board with it because we could definitely use extra funding, and we meet the requirements of the federal government as well.”

Leacox, sophomore in English, generally supports the legislation as well.

“[Race to the Top] is a good idea for a source of motivation for school districts,” Leacox said.

Leacox said paying teachers based on merit is an official incentive to work hard, but could also have negative effects.

“There’s a good possibility if you’re focusing on those standardized tests that you’ll miss out on an educational experience,” she said.

Bennett disagrees with teacher pay being based on merit.

“Some students are just naturally challenged at taking standardized tests,” she said. “I don’t think the teacher is the full reason for why kids don’t do well on those tests, so I don’t think teacher’s pay should be determined by the outcome.

“I do believe it would change the way teachers would teach. They would be determined to teach only what is included on the tests. Everything else would be pushed aside and if there was time then they learned it and if not, the kids just missed out.”

Although they do not agree with every aspect of the bill, both agree that it should be implemented in the state of Iowa.

“Whatever gives more money to the schools leads to some form of better education. It is a good idea that maybe needs some tweaking, but it might be beneficial for struggling states,” Leacox said.