Gadfly has learned that Nina Shokraii Rees, the head of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII), will exit her post and head into the private sector come mid-January. Former Education Secretary Rod Paige created OII three years ago last month, and under Rees's leadership the division has been unusually productive and entrepreneurial - adjectives not commonly associated with federal agencies. Among her lasting accomplishments: launching the first-ever federally funded voucher program (in D.C.); paving the way for hundreds of thousands of needy kids to receive free tutoring under NCLB's supplemental services provisions; highlighting promising innovations funded by OII and others through a weekly newsletter and the "innovations in education" book series; advancing fresh ways of preparing and certifying quality teachers; incorporating rigorous evaluation methods in discretionary grant programs; and being the best friend of charter schools and choice within the Bush administration. Nina has been a rare beacon of hope for education reformers; in selecting her successor, Secretary Spellings has an opportunity - and a challenge - to show that she understands that standards-and-accountability is only part of the school reform formula in 2006.
