Spend time in education-policy circles and you will hear it, that most uninspiring phrase: The devil is in the details. When uttered, heads nod. Everyone gets it. The devil is in the details, which means, I have no clue how in the devil's dwelling this idea will work. Occasionally, a substitute is called in?e.g., it's all about the implementation?yet the denotation is unchanged.
But is that pesky devil always rummaging through the details? Nope. Sometimes, lots of times, he's comfortably ensconced in the aggregate. In such cases, not only are the brushstrokes a bit too visible, the shading slightly off, but the subject is missing a head!
From time to time, this blogger will identify these occurrences by pointing his pixels at education schemes that are doomed from the start, overrun by fiends through and through. Stay tuned.
?Liam Julian