Big dates with the feds

Here they are!

– March 4th United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will be announcing the roster of Race to the Top awardees. From a friend: Duncan will announce the RTTT Phase I finalists this Thursday. States will know around 11:30 a.m., with a press release coming at about 12. Sharpen your pens, reporters!

– March 8th the draft of the “K-12” Common Core Standards will be released by the Common Core Standards Initiative on March 8 . They are being put out for public comment and posted at www.corestandards.org. You’ve got three weeks to make your comments.

Fingers crossed on the first item. On the second, well, CCSSI has had its work cut out, because the previous drafts stunk.