The "next" Institute of Education Sciences

This is a must-read for all of you out there. See here what Alliance board member from AIR Mark Schneider has to say in Gadfly about what to expect next at the Institute of Education Science. Tell the Knowledgeable Sourcerer what you think about his comments about the regional labs and the national R&D centers.

The First 100 Daze

Way back in November just days after the election we went out on a limb and made 10 predictions related to education about what would happen during the first 100 days of the Obama Administration. Hmmmm....see what we said back then here . So what do you think? By our figuring we were right on on seven. Half right on two. And totally wrong on one. No bad, yes? Tell us what you think will happen in the next 100 days.

A new direction for the Institute of Education Science?

Last week at the AERA annual meeting in San Diego, the director-designate of the Institute of Education Science made his first public appearance in his new role. Here are several highlights:
• John first met Arne when Duncan returned from Australia after playing BB to work on a school project in Chicago and couldn't get data from the Chicago Schools. He ultimately got the data from John and they struck up a good working relationship.
• Easton indicated that he views his role as more of a helper to get the answer rather than always having the answer
• Easton wrote a very interesting paper on the Chicago Consortium and his theory of action. See it here
• His final quote ---”I will be reaching out to you folks to define the next generation of IES".
The tone and substance are certainly different from the previous Administration. Does all of this point to a new direction for IES and its place in the ED? Tell us what you think.

Knowledge vs Symbolism?

“What ails education reform: poor use of symbolism” --- Say what? See what our bud Andy Rotherham has to say in his monthly column in U.S. News & World Report . Seems off the mark to us. We think it is much more a poor use of knowledge than symbolism. Tell us what you think.