I've already told you that reading this letter will get you worked up, but it will also provide confirmation that Jim Shelton is, indeed, the new head of the Office of Innovation and Improvement. (I speculated as much a month ago; Russo: that's one less big job left to fill.)
For those of us who worked with Secretary of Education Rod Paige to create OII, this turn of events isn't too surprising. We always suspected that a Democratic Administration would embrace most of OII's mission (of promoting charter schools, alternative teacher certification, smart uses of technology, etc.) but would shun vouchers. And so it is.
Maybe it's just as well; school vouchers aren't that "innovative" anyway. In D.C. at least, they merely help poor kids get access to good schools that have been around for a long time. In today's education reform world, that's not enough of a "game-changer." Never mind the difference it makes for several thousand children.
