Like Arnie's plan but with much more tact

Here's a roundup of the stories I would have pontificated about today had I had time:

• Rep. Rangel and Teachers College pres Arthur Levine have proposed pay incentives to attract teachers to hard-to-staff schools. Story here, Eduwonk here.
• Two new studies of charter schools by the big boys in the evaluating world, one on Chicago and one on North Carolina. Results: Charter schools are effective in some grades, under some conditions, some of the time. My conclusion: Stop trying to prove that charter schools are or are not more effective than non-charter public schools. Start trying to figure out what the good schools do that makes them effective.
• The Education Department has paid people to write anti-public school op/eds. Well, that is a slight exaggeration; but what is certainly clear is that the Bush administration has put a lot of money into propping up minority-focused organizations (like Hispanic CREO, referenced in this article) that are really just front organizations for their conservative friends.

Also, I had my first class yesterday: "Inquiries into Teaching and Learning." Seems a little pointless -- could all those people be right who say that education schools are a big waste of time and money? -- but I am keeping an open mind.