1) Really Good Discussion About Policymaking & Value-Added: Down there in the comments. Come and put in your two cents, and also check out the AFT’s take and Nancy Flanagan’s post on assessing teachers. If you’re tired of this thread, head over to one commenter’s unrelated op-ed in USA Today about A Nation At Risk.
2) Matrix Algebra: After the keg runs dry, they play all kinds of party games at the Education Next editorial board meetings. Apparently, the boys lacking the vim and vigor to win a round of duck-duck-goose get pinched into starting blogs. Between Flypaper and Jay Greene, I can’t respond to every post that makes my face twitch (see allegorical clip below) - though Mike Petrilli and I are on the same page about graduate student unions. Welcome to the block, guys.