Change We Can't Believe In

For Education Chief, Stimulus Means Power and Risk

Mr. Duncan said he intended to reward school districts, charter schools and nonprofit organizations that had demonstrated success at raising student achievement — “islands of excellence,” he called them. Programs that tie teacher pay to classroom performance will most likely receive money...

The bill sets aside $5 billion of that to reward states, districts and schools for setting high standards and narrowing achievement gaps between poor and affluent students. The law lets Mr. Duncan decide which states deserve awards and which programs merit special financing.

NY Times

What does this say about the ideological underpinnings of the education aspect of the stimulus spending package in an area many of us actually know something about? (Imagine what else lurks in the parts of the plan we don't know much about). Can't you see Duncan funneling money to his buddies Michele Rhee and Joel Klein who will use it to create more useless data? And he WILL buy the Tweed phony stats about rising scores and grad rates because he engaged in the same game in Chicago. One thing we know. An enormous opportunity to test the impact of class size reduction in at least pockets of various urban areas will never see the light of day.