Yesterday, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker triumphed in his bare-knuckles recall rematch with Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett. The result serves, fairly or not, to validate Walker's push to dial back the scope of collective bargaining for public employees in Wisconsin. In the blue-tinged cradle of American Progressivism, Walker held off a ferocious labor onslaught. He did so with the aid of more than $40 million raised from conservatives who saw Wisconsin as their must-win battle in the effort to tame the reach of public unions. Walker's win comes on the heels of Republican success in blunting last summer's Democratic attempt to ...

I'm occasionally asked by district officials for a few words of advice on how to proceed when dealing with providers plying their turnaround wares. Given the priority attached to turnarounds nowadays, and the School Improvement Grant funds that districts have to spend, this is no small question. In policy circles, there's plenty of debate about whether this effort to improve low-performing schools will work as hoped or will go down as an expensive failure. On this count, history counsels caution. In the 1970s, millions of dollars were spent on "effective schools research" to find out what made good schools click. ...

You may recall the kerfuffle a couple of weeks back involving The Chronicle of Higher Education's decision to fire blogger Naomi Schaefer Riley for her criticism of black-studies programs. Many critics insisted it wasn't about her point of view but her harsh language. Indeed, Chronicle editor Liz McMillen felt compelled to apologize for Riley, writing, "Several thousand of you spoke out in outrage and disappointment that The Chronicle had published an article that did not conform to the journalistic standards and civil tone that you expect from us." Well, what does the record suggest? Was Riley targeted for her views, ...

Last week, I kvetched about the problems with RTT-District. I'll just say a bit more today. There are four things that particularly struck me about this $400 million exercise: 1. ED anticipates giving out 15 to 20 grants, with amounts tied to district size. Big districts, serving 10,000 kids or more, can get all of $20-$25 million. Smaller districts are eligible for less. In a small urban like Washington, DC, or Newark, we're talking about a total award equal to something like two to three percent of one year's outlays. In the nation's bigger districts, like Houston, Fairfax, ...

Just this week, ED announced the creation of (yet) another RTT, this time for school districts. My only reaction to reading the info on this new Race to the Top-District was, "You have...got...to...be...kidding." It's like they read all their admiring press clips from RTT, strenuously tuned out any criticism or lessons learned from the, um, uneven track record when it comes to implementation, and wanted to see whether they could take the hubris meter up to 11 (with apologies to Spinal Tap). Look, I feel for the folks at ED. I like them and I know ...

Yesterday, presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney unveiled his education program in a speech at the Latino Coalition's Annual Economic Summit. The plan's themes are good ones: school choice, innovation, transparency, focusing on bang-for-the-buck, and welcoming new quality providers (including for-profit ventures). In a happy development, the plan turns the page on the Bush-era romance with NCLB-style federal overreach (it's no surprise that former Bush Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings is no longer listed as a Romney education advisor). To be fair, it's easy for candidates to look good at this stage. After all, at this point in 2008, Barack Obama ...

Last week, I had an exchange with the Fordham Institute's "school choice czar" Adam Emerson, in which I argued that Emerson showed an unfortunate disregard for the legitimate concerns of parents and taxpayers in Zachary, Louisiana, in upbraiding them for not opening their schools to the state's new voucher program. I didn't mean to pick on Emerson in particular. I fear that too often even putatively "conservative" advocates for school choice slip into self-righteous rhetoric that dismisses or denigrates the concerns of middle-class or suburban households. Indeed, the most telling reaction to the back-and-forth was over at the Daily Kos, ...

I recently had a chance to chat with Neerav Kingsland, recently named CEO of New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO). NSNO has been a pivotal player in New Orleans' post-Katrina reform landscape. A Tulane and Yale Law School alum, Neerav previously served as the chief strategy officer for NSNO. You may also recall him as a former guest star at RHSU. Neerav is taking the reins from Sarah Usdin, the founder of NSNO who is stepping back after a half-dozen years at the helm. Given the centrality of New Orleans to various reform debates, including those over charter schooling and "recovery...

The other day, the Fordham Institute's Adam Emerson attacked Louisiana's Zachary school district for having the temerity to not participate in the state's new voucher program. After expressing initial interest, Zachary opted not to partake. The voucher program, championed by Governor Bobby Jindal, would allow students who attend Louisiana public schools earning a C, D, or F on the state's accountability system to attend a private or another public school. Emerson denounced Zachary for "erect[ing] a fence around its public schools" and thundered at "those who make 'sacrifices' for the best [but] want to keep their investment exclusive." (I'm ...

Given concerns about the economy, jobs, and health care, education policy isn't likely to be a make-or-break issue in November's presidential election. But it matters a great deal, nonetheless. As was the case for George W. Bush in 2000 and Barack Obama in 2008, Mitt Romney's stance on education will powerfully color how Americans view his broader domestic agenda. Romney's been largely silent on the issue. But now's the time for him to speak. A good place for Romney to start is by explaining what Obama has gotten right during the past four years--and then pointing out precisely where the ...