Another conflict of interest case. School districts do a great job of complying with "input" requirements, a terrible job meeting "performance" requirements, and drag their feet or ignore "process" requirements. LAUSD just never manages to find space for charter schools, despite having it and/or the money for it, and despite the law.   more »

No, it's not K12, but what is it about these schools that attracts investigative reporting? In this case it is - yes, conflicts of interest. At least as important, what are the quality virtual providers doing to improve the perception of their industry segment?   more »

No matter how promising, and despite the fact that it is hard to entice people to join a lame duck President - sinking fast in eyes of everyone who matters to NCLB reauthorization - this is not the right time for a Kerri Briggs. The Secretary and the President should be moving heaven and earth to find someone with gravitas to help with the very heavy lifting they face. The decision to move Briggs forward is a warning sign of the Administration's weakness.   more »

RMC is a partner in the Northeast Region and Islands Regional Laboratory. "Conflict of interest" was written all over the Department of Education's contract with RMC for support of Reading First, and in flashing neon. The fact it was approved suggests that officials far more senior than Chris Doherty did not review the contract, did not understand the meaning of the term, or did not care. None of these options is acceptable. At the heart of market regulation in a free society is the notion of a level playing field - unbiased application of the rules. The Reading First fiasco underlines how far the Department has to go before it can claim such competence. From the enclosed article - Richard A. Allington, past president of the International Reading Association: “The e-mails between (former federal Reading First Director Christopher J. Doherty and G. Reid Lyon, the former chief of the reading-research branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) illustrate that at least these two people knew which consultants/reviewers were ‘appropriately’ aligned with their vision of Reading First…. And they knew they should mask any overt ideological moves to name people or products (as evidenced by their e-mails to each other on this very topic). Are we to believe that [they] didn’t know about the conflict of interest with the center directors and consultants?” The I.G. reports only went so far into the matter. Congress needs to go deeper into the details and higher up the food chain. And the school improvement industry - the firms that truly care about results trumping marketing budgets need to get behind the injured organizations.   more »