Montgomery, AL – Alabama finished dead last in the latest round of the ``Race to the Top'' federal education grant competition.
Alabama schools Superintendent Joe Morton tells The Birmingham News he didn't expect the last-place finish. He blamed the poor showing partly on a lack of charter school legislation and a lack of help from the teachers' union.
Ten winners of the competition were announced this week. The U.S. Department of Education says Alabama finished 36th out of 35 states and the District of Columbia that competed for the grants, scoring 212 points out of a possible 500.
Reviewers gave the state low marks for a lack of charter or other innovative schools, a lack of alternative pathways to becoming a teacher or school principal, a lack of common core curriculum standards and a lack of support from the teachers' union for a proposed plan.
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