Feds: "Dramatically better" work expected

Michelle McNeill at Politics K-12 reports on today's stimulus funding meeting between Secretary Duncan and state education chiefs:

"We're going to have a much higher bar than other folks [receiving stimulus money]," Duncan told the chiefs. "We need to create jobs, and we need to get dramatically better."

Biden pledged the administration's continued support—so long as all of this money translates into results.

"This is going to be an education administration," Biden said. "But we want to begin to change the script, demand more of everyone. We expect a hell of a lot more."

That could be bad news if the administration wants to control more details from D.C. It could be very good indeed if they stay focused on a few key factors that matter to achievement, like attention to individual students' progress and embedded professional development.