Are There Faint Echoes of Race to the Top in Democratic Candidates' Plans?

Among both liberals and conservatives, the Obama-era Race to the Top state grants became (rightly or wrongly) central to allegations that President Barack Obama and his education team used the $4.4 billion in competitive grants to strong-arm states into adopting policies about content standards and accountability that didn't have local buy-in and caused more harm than good. Indeed, when Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015, it rebuked Race to the Top in key ways, such as through ESSA's prohibition on the federal government getting involved in teacher evaluations.

So given all that, are there any similarities between Race to the Top—which was part of the 2009 federal stimulus—and what Democratic presidential hopefuls say they have planned for K-12 education?

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2019/11/democratic-race-to-the-top-presidency.html