BLOGS: Momentary Distraction From Your Soul-Crushing Job

Duncan's "ton of bricks" quote Small Talk
The ton of bricks quote is all over the media. But no one seems to carry the exact quote beyond the words "ton of bricks." It would be nice to know what exactly we have to do before the bricks fall on us.

Tough Choices in Tough Times LFA
A Las Vegas Sun article about Nevada's use of stimulus funds highlights the challenges many states and districts feel as they balance the desire for innovation against the need to fill budget holes:

In defense of conferences  Andy Smarick
Years ago, when I was just entering the education reform world, an old hand heard that I had registered for a big conference and dismissively replied, “Conferences are for the uninitiated.”

Are we really passing kids? Philly Notebook
The pressures of passing underperforming or de facto, failing students in the school district of Philadelphia.

Green Dot Founder Eyes D.C. Charters PK12
Steve Barr says he'll be talking with Chancellor Michelle Rhee about bringing his model for small high schools to the District of Columbia.

One more reason not to use Elsevier Sherman Dorn
If fake journals created at the whim of pharmaceutical companies weren't bad enough, how about paying people to assign five stars to textbooks in Amazon's review system?...

Turnaround Jumper Chad Adelman
This process will not be clean, and Duncan may have overreached with the five percent figure (why not start with the five worst schools in each state, or some other definable, achievable number?), but he's set the right goals.

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[LQ]

"So if states and districts are doing a great job, we're going to highlight those innovative practices and shine a spotlight on them, but where we see a state or district operating in bad faith and doing something counter to the president's intent, we're going to come down like a ton of bricks," Duncan said. (March 25, 2009)