Our Reform-o-Meter is getting a workout now that the Obama Administration is announcing new Department of Education appointees daily. (Almost as frequently as it announces the tax problems of Cabinet nominees or their spouses .)
The latest is Russlynn Ali , currently the director of Education Trust-West , who was nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights . And let there be no doubt: she's a butt-kicking, take-no-prisoners, storm-the-barricades, scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs reformer. As one friend asked me, ???Can we turn the dial to 11????
Now, this would be a good time to point out that ???reform??? comes in lots of shapes, sizes, and shades. If you've been reading some of the things I've been writing, like this, for example , you know that I'm not entirely enamored of Education Trust-style reform. I think the group is much more optimistic about the federal government's ability to do good in education than the evidence supports. They were responsible for some of the most problematic features of No Child Left Behind, particularly the ill considered ???highly qualified teachers??? provision. And they've been lukewarm to charter schools and the broader school choice agenda.
Still, on our scale, it's only fair to call Russlynn Red Hot (in terms of reform, I'm saying!). But here's a wrinkle. Enforcing civil rights is a key function, but it's not a policy role. Russlynn will be leading an office of 600-plus, but she'll be sitting six blocks away from Arne Duncan and focused on managing the day-to-day work of handling civil rights complaints. So for putting this reformer par excellence in a secondary role (which I'd rank a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10), I think the nomination deserves no better than a ???warm.???
Do you agree? Cast your vote below.
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