The story is Dallas, but it could be pretty much every district in the country.... The Reading First fiasco illustrates how hard it will be to cut through the instutional glue holding the large publishers close to state and local education agencies. This is a story about how hard it is to break up cozy relationships at the other end of the centrally-managed state enterprise that public education remains. Separating district managers from insider relationships with their local colleagues is no less important to the development of a real school improvement industy. On both ends of the system - top and bottom - it is time to change government procurement law, regulation and practice for school improvement services so that quality trumps marketing.   more »

But is the policy mere rhetoric for Tallahassee, or matched by real reporting systems back at the central office? Is there a "strategy-to-tasks" plan? Are the district's middle managers accountable in a meaningful way? Or is it just another funding presentation? And what happens if the promised performance does not materialize? When Crew promises to resign without severance if his goals are not met, then maybe there's a proposition worth taking at face value..   more »

This Week: 160 new federal, state, and local RFPs   more »

Not even a comment in response to the CEP report from EIA's Exec Director and SES defender Steve Pines? Didn't EIA just put out its own report on SES at last week's Washington meeting? Get the gist of the CEP report in this week's New Education Economy®   more »